The Miserable
by Sad-Blue-Eyed-Angel 2010
Summary: A small glimpse into how Alan and Tin-Tin treat each other in their relation/friendship. Rated M for some adult themes later on.
1. Les Miserable

The thunderous thumps of running feet roared down the hallway as the klaxon blared loudly, rousing all the occupants of Tracy Island from sleep. Cerulean eyes opened slowly before closing in a groggy blink. Reaching out a hand, Alan Tracy tapped the base of his lamp on his nightstand, illuminating the room. The light burned intensely in his retinas, but Alan ignored the sharp burn. Waving a hand, Alan located the box of tissues he'd placed beside his bed.

"Ugh…I'm so stubbed up." Alan sat up before blowing his nose into the handful of tissues. "My head."

Alan listened as he heard a thunderous roar take off in the night sky as Thunderbird One launched off to a rescue. Groaning to himself, Alan wrapped his blankets around his form before stepping into his slippers and grabbing his box of tissues. Shuffling out of his bedroom, Alan made his way down past Command and Control where Brains was running everything. Jeff, Scott, Virgil and Gordon were nowhere to be seen and that made Alan sigh. He'd give anything to go on a rescue with his family, but he was currently home from school with an upper respiratory and sinus infection.

Thanks to midterms Alan had lost a fare few hours of sleep, resulting in his weakened immune system. He'd contracted the infection three weeks ago, but in truth his family hadn't known about it until a week ago. Alan had hidden the fact that he wasn't feeling well until he'd fallen asleep in his astrology class. His instructor checked Alan for a fever upon waking the boy and he'd found that his student was not only warm, he was blazing hot. Alan had been sent to the nurse's office to rest until the school could get ahold of either his dad or brothers.

Lady Penelope and Parker had been the ones to come retrieve Alan from school. Lady Penelope had forced Alan to lie down and sleep, pillowing Alan's head against her lap. She'd run her fingers through the fifteen year old's hair, easing him off to sleep. When they'd arrived on the island, Kyrano had gently picked up the sickly boy, carrying him on his back up to his bedroom. Onaha had taken the liberty of changing Alan into his pajamas before she'd tucked the boy in.

When Alan's family had returned to the island after a rescue, they'd found Lady Penelope seated on the edge of Alan's bed gently dabbing at his sweaty forehead with a damp cloth. Virgil retrieved a hypodermic needle from the infirmary and gave Alan a shot of antibiotics to help him fight the infection.

That was a week ago and Alan still wasn't getting any better. In fact he seemed to be getting worse. His nose was raw from him constantly blowing it, he'd swear that he could taste blood each time he coughed, his appetite was virtually gone, not being able to taste tended to do that from time to time, his fever remained steady at 102.6 and no amount of sleep he got seemed to get rid of his fatigue.

Alan reached out with a shaky hand and opened the door to the movie room. If he couldn't sleep, might as well watch a movie…right? Yeah, that's what he thought too. Alan closed the door and turned the light on to a dim setting and moved to the couch. His head was pounding, he was tired, his nose was so stuffed up and he felt miserable. Alan retrieved the remote and propped up against the pillows that lay on the couch.

Alan contemplated putting on one of the boring documentaries that Gordon recorded on amphibians, but he couldn't gather the wherewithal to actually press play. As tired as he was, he didn't want to be caught watching a documentary, and it'd earn him teasing like you would not believe.

"Hey, feel up to some company?" Alan raised his head from the pillows to peer behind him at the voice that sounded in the room. Tin-Tin stood a couple paces behind the couch. "How are you feeling?"

"Don't ask…I feel miserable and I want to go to sleep." Alan mumbled out…his voice changed the syllables of his words and if it wasn't for how puny his voice sounded it might have been comical. "What are you doing ub?"

"I couldn't sleep…so I figured I'd come down here to watch a movie in hopes of making myself fall asleep." Tin-Tin moved around the couch to sit. She grabbed Alan's legs and lifted them up before sitting where his feet had been and laying his legs across her lap. "Feel up to humoring me?"

"What do you want to watch?" Alan laid his head back against the pillows, settling in and feeling his eyes droop slightly.

"To be honest, I've been wanting to watch Les Miserable, but I don't want to make any of your brothers uncomfortable with a musical." Alan would swear that Tin-Tin blushed slightly, but he couldn't tell in the mild darkness of the room.

"So how is that different with me?" Alan grinned slightly in question.

"For one…you are already uncomfortable…two you'll probably fall asleep during the first five minutes so it'll be like killing two birds with one stone." Alan shook his head in bemusement at Tin-Tin's logic, but he motioned for her to go ahead and put the film on.

"I'll give you that…go ahead. I'll deal." Alan pulled his blanket's around his frame and smiled his thanks when Tin-Tin tucked the loose edge of blankets around his feet and consequently around herself too.

Tin-Tin went on ahead and found the movie she wanted to watch and hit play. Alan settled in, ready and hoping that the movie put him to sleep, but as the opening credits began…Alan found himself strangely drawn in. He wasn't one for musicals, but this had caught his interest. He blamed his illness for making him find interest in a movie he'd never have watched even if he went on a movie date with a girl.

There were parts in the movie that Alan was embarrassed to admit, brought a tear to his eye. He and Tin-Tin both utilized his box of tissues, Tin-Tin because she was openly crying and had taken to dabbing at the tear streaks on her face, Alan partly because he was crying, partly because his cold made it next to impossible for him to breath like a normal human being.

When the film ended Alan and Tin-Tin looked at each other with glistening eyes. "What happened in this room, stays in this room." Alan stated with a glower in Tin-Tin's direction.

"My lips are sealed." Tin-Tin made a locking gesture over her mouth before throwing away the key. "Feeling sleepy yet?"

"Yeah, but I'm too comfortable to head back to my bed…lord knows how much that's driving me crazy being restricted to my bed. I think I'll stay here." Alan wiggled slightly, settling into the couch cushions. His eyelids became incredibly heavy and he no longer tried to keep them open.

Tin-Tin still wasn't quite tired yet, so she'd selected another movie from the queue to put on.

… … … … … …

Virgil strolled through the hallway intent on swinging past his little brother's room to check on him. His fever had remained high all day and Virgil wanted to make sure that it hadn't gotten any higher. Opening the door to Alan's bedroom, Virgil poked his head in to look in on his brother and frowned when he found not only the bed empty but it devoid of the thick blankets that Scott had practically swaddled the teen in.

"Sprout?" Virgil stepped fully into Alan's bedroom and checked the en suite bathroom for his brother. He'd begun coughing up the phlegm that settled in his lungs and it had a habit of making the youngest Tracy retch.

When Virgil failed to find Alan in the bathroom or his bedroom the medic went off in search of his older and younger brothers to see if either of them had even the slightest idea had as to Alan's whereabouts.

The medic meandered down the hall way in search of the youngest Tracy and as he wandered past the movie room he paused when he heard noise coming from inside. Backtracking, Virgil ventured to open the door to the movie room and he poked his head in. He saw a head, but the head had long dark hair and it was slumped over. Tiptoeing into the room, Virgil walked up to the couch to discover Tin-Tin, sleeping with her head propped up against her fist and Alan…bundled up under his blankets. Both teens were sound asleep.

Smiling serenely, Virgil grabbed the remote and turned off the movie that was half way over. Immediately the room was plunged into total silence and Virgil found himself holding his breath. Ever so slowly, the medic gripped Tin-Tin's head and eased it off her fist and back to lie against the arm of the couch. Slipping a small throw pillow beneath her head, Virgil checked on Alan since he was in the room. The boy was still quite feverish, but there wasn't much Virgil could do until his body actually decided to fight back against the infection.

"Hey, Virgil…have you see…" Scott trailed off himself when Virgil held a finger up to his lips. Peering over the edge of the couch, Scott got a sappy sort of grin on his face as he watched Alan sleep. The younger blonde, though not well yet was actually sleeping peacefully. The two older brothers chuckled quietly when they noticed one of Alan's toes poking out from beneath the pile of blankets spread across Tin-Tin's lap.

"Hang on, I'll be right back." Scott murmured quietly before slipping out of the room. Virgil continued to settle Alan and Tin-Tin in on the couch before looking up at seeing the door swing open again. This time it was Scott followed by Gordon and their father. Scott walked up to Virgil and handed him a pair of thick socks to place on the youngest Tracy's feet.

"How's he doing?" Jeff crouched down near the couch to whisper to Virgil who was in the process of slipping the thick material over his youngest brother's feet.

"A little better, but he's still quite warm." Virgil stood when he'd finished his task. "Come, let's let them be, I'd hate to wake Al when he's finally gotten to sleep."

Virgil ushered his family out of the room and closed the door quietly. Stopping short just outside the room, Virgil smiled softly. His baby brother no matter how old he got, was still just as cute asleep as he was when he was just a small babe in arms. When he was asleep, the stress lines that showed on his face eased away in order to give the kid the sleep he needed to recover from this illness that struck him down.

Meanwhile just inside the movie room, Tin-Tin raised her head slightly; having awoken after sensing the presences of others in the room with her and Alan. Turning her head slightly, Tin-Tin smiled before leaning over and placing the most gentlest of kisses on Alan's fevered cheeks. Snuggling down under the blankets that she shared with Alan, Tin-Tin returned to her slumber.


	2. Walking on Clouds

Alan lay in bed staring with a wrinkled nose at the soup and crackers that Tin-Tin had brought up to him for lunch. The soup was his least favorite kind of soup, but he knew that his grandmother had made it with a "dash of love" as Tin-Tin so quaintly put it and he didn't have the heart to turn it away. Swallowing, Alan gazed at the bowl of minestrone soup with trepidation. He preferred chicken noodle soup, but his grandma had been out of chicken so she decided the next best thing would be minestrone.

"Come on Alan, if you want to get better you'd better eat your lunch while it's still hot." Tin-Tin gripped Alan's hand in hers and made him take hold of the spoon.

Alan sniffled as he felt his nose begin to run and he dropped his spoon in favor of grabbing a couple tissues to sneeze into rather than to sneeze into Tin-Tin's face. Tin-Tin exhaled loudly as she grabbed the spoon and dipped it into the minestrone soup before lifting the spoon to lightly blow on the soup to cool the hot liquid. When Alan discarded the balled up tissues into his partially filled trash receptacle he crossed his arms with a pout to match even the most temperamental of toddlers.

"Come on Alan. It's time for you to eat." Tin-Tin lifted the spoon up to Alan's mouth but Alan however turned his head away like a child that was a picky eater. Tin-Tin followed Alan's movements and slipped the broth into Alan's mouth when he opened his mouth to protest eating the despised flavor of soup.

Alan swallowed what was in his mouth but he did it while choking down the gross soup. After swallowing the broth, Alan released a cough and pouted immediately after when he saw Tin-Tin doing a repeat of what she'd previously done. Alan didn't want to eat minestrone soup, it was the devil as far as he was concerned.

"Come on Alan, it won't kill you to eat this soup. If you're lucky, maybe you'll feel better tomorrow." Tin-Tin forced the spoon between Alan's lips and she watched satisfied as Alan swallowed another spoonful of the soup. She knew minestrone wasn't Alan's preferred soup flavor – he was a sucker for chicken noodle soup as opposed to any other flavor. But he'd have no choice but to take what he could get.

"Fine, I'll eat it…but only if you'll be a doll and feed it to me. Pretty please?" Alan pulled the puppy eyes on Tin-Tin and she felt her resolve crumble. Nobody could say no to Alan's puppy eyes, and Alan knew that tidbit of information, that's why he pulled it so often.

"Okay, fine. But no and I mean no complaints about the flavor." Tin-Tin held a finger up and pointed at Alan before she made Alan scoot over in his bed so she could sit rather than perch. "Okay, open up."

Alan listened to Tin-Tin and opened his mouth to accept the spoonful of soup which was followed by oyster crackers.

"Is that better?" Tin-Tin inquired as Alan seemed to be able to eat the soup without grimacing.

"Much. Thanks Tin." Alan smiled his thanks at his friend and accepted another spoonful of soup. "When I get to feeling better, name your price and I'll do it for you."

"Can I trust you to give me a mani-pedi without tickling my toes?" Tin-Tin raised an eyebrow in Alan's direction and watched Alan roll his eyes before nodding.

"Yes, you have my sworn oath, I will not tickle your toes. So is that what you want then as payment for being my nurse?" Alan inquired as he finished the last of the soup.

"Yeah, you did a spectacular job the last time…of course you tickled my toes last time and I almost kicked you in the face." Tin-Tin shot a false glare at Alan and watched him blush slightly.

"Well you were wiggling your toes and you know I often have tickle wars with my brothers…you should have known not to tempt me." Alan grinned with a wink.

"Okay, now that I know about your tickle fetish…I'll keep that in mind to hold perfectly still during my next mani-pedi you give me." Tin-Tin shook her head with a wry grin.

… … … … … …

Alan walked through the house, his slippers on and blanket draped over his shoulders. He was beginning to feel better, still had a pretty gross sounding cough (one that still was bringing up crap from his lungs). He'd already been home for almost two weeks trying to get over this respiratory and sinus infection…thankfully Virgil sent a doctor's note to the school informing them that Alan was on antibiotics (unfortunately not the oral kind). Alan had to work to not blush like crazy when each morning Virgil came to his bedroom with a hypodermic needle to give him a shot right in the butt. Thankfully Virgil didn't require him to drop trou completely and only asked that he lower the hem a little bit.

"Hey Alan, what are you doing up?" Gordon came around the corner, towel draped over his shoulders…his swim trunks dripping water – obviously Gordon had just come from the pool.

"Going to go see Tin-Tin. She wanted me to come hang out with her today." Alan murmured. He totally didn't want to be caught giving Tin-Tin a foot massage and painting her toe nails, but he'd promised Tin-Tin a mani-pedi and a Tracy never broke his promise.

"Okay, well try not to pass your cold off to her…none of us want to come down with what you and your sicky self brought home from school." Gordon ruffled Alan's hair while discreetly checking his brother for a fever.

"Trust me Gordo, I think Tin-Tin is immune. She never catches anything I or Fermat manage to bring home from the states." Alan stepped away from his immediate older brother and continued on to Tin-Tin's bedroom.

"I know, but she could still pass it off to one of us." Gordon called after Alan before going off in an opposite direction than Alan.

When Alan reached Tin-Tin's bedroom he found her laying on her bed flipping through a magazine. Knocking timidly, Alan smiled when Tin-Tin waved him into her bedroom. They'd be keeping her door open. Their folks requested that there always be an open door policy if Tin-Tin was going into any of the guy's room or vise versa.

"Hey Alan, what are doing out of bed?" Tin-Tin dog-eared one of her pages before turning her undivided attention to Alan.

"I'm bored, so I figured we could go ahead with the mani-pedi. If you're still up for it that is." Alan rolled his eyes around as he looked at Tin-Tin's bedroom. It wasn't a typical girl's room. No pink and frills, stuffed animals, makeup or thousands of shoes. It seemed more beach themed than anything. Tin-Tin had a two person hammock hanging in the corner of her room. Her dresser, bed and a desk. When Alan was younger and he'd occasionally spend the night in Tin-Tin's family's wing of the Tracy villa, his bed was always the hammock.

"Sure, if you're feeling up for it though." Tin-Tin didn't want to make Alan do anything if he wasn't feeling up to par.

"Yeah, why not…because when I get to feeling better dad is probably going to send me off to school again. So unless you want to wait until spring break for your mani-pedi, I'd say that we'd best go ahead and do it now." Alan stepped into Tin-Tin's bedroom and sat on her bed – facing his friend. "So do you have all the stuff we'll need for your mani-pedi?"

"Yeah." Tin-Tin jumped off her bed and strode over to her closet before retrieving a small plastic suitcase. "Here we go."

"Okay, so how did you want to do this?" Alan opened Tin-Tin's spa kit as she called it and started riffling through it. He may be a boy, but he knew how to color coordinate and he was trying to pick a color of nail polish for Tin-Tin to wear.

"I think I want to do a soak with my fizzy salts before you do anything yet." Tin-Tin leaned over and pulled out one of her hibiscus scented foot soak fizzy balls and smiled as she took a whiff. "Mmm, I love the smell of hibiscus."

Alan shrugged his shoulders. He couldn't smell anything right now, thus the shrug. He liked the smell of hibiscus too, but it'd do no good to agree with Tin-Tin when he couldn't exactly smell anything right at the moment. Instead Alan retrieved a bowl that Tin-Tin kept in her closet for her little foot soaks that she liked to do and went into her personal bathroom to fill it with warm water. When Alan returned with the bowl of water he found Tin-Tin in the process of trying to remove an old nail polish color she had on.

"Nuh-uh…I was the one who'd be giving you a mani-pedi…I can't do that if you start doing everything yourself." Alan walked over and set the bowl down on top of a towel that he'd draped over his shoulder when he'd been in Tin-Tin's bathroom earlier. "Hand over the cotton ball and acetone remover."

Tin-Tin rolled her eyes before doing just what Alan told her to do. Alan sat at the foot of Tin-Tin's bed and grabbed both of Tin-Tin's legs before pulling them into his lap.

"No kicking me if I tickle you. Just know I am not doing it on purpose." Alan started off by grabbing one of Tin-Tin's pinky toes and starting to remove the polish. Tin-Tin squirmed because yes it did tickle, but then she was just ticklish on the bottoms of her feet.

When Alan finished removing Tin-Tin's polish from her toenails, he had the girl soak her feet while he worked on removing the polish from Tin-Tin's fingernails.

"So, why were you so gung-ho over doing my mani-pedi today? Last time you acted like it was a chore." Tin-Tin inquired since she had nothing better to do.

"Well, for one I really was bored and …I wanted to hang out. We rarely get to do that just the two of us, so I figured…why not?" Alan glanced up at Tin-Tin shyly.

"Aw, how sweet." Tin-Tin gushed before she reached over with her free hand to pinch one of Alan's cheeks.

"Hey, shut up alright." Alan glared at Tin-Tin before he smiled at the girl with a blush. He truly did enjoy spending time with Tin-Tin. Since the Hood incident, the two of them quit arguing as much and started being more understanding of each other.

"Okay…" Silence lapsed for a while as Alan waited for the water that Tin-Tin was soaking her feet in to quit fizzing. When the bubbles went away, Alan had Tin-Tin bring one of her feet up and out of the water and he dried that particular foot with a spare towel he'd snagged from the bathroom. Reaching into Tin-Tin's spa kit, Alan retrieved lotion and a couple emery boards before setting to work on massaging Tin-Tin's feet. Alan couldn't help but to chuckle at the look of awe on Tin-Tin's face as she practically melted into the foot massage.

"So, this is the color I picked out…what do you think?" Alan held up a peach toned nail polish color and he held it up to Tin-Tin's toes so Tin-Tin could try to envision the color being on her toes.

"I love it." Tin-Tin agreed and she relaxed back into her bed as Alan bent over her feet to concentrate on painting her toenails. Alan drugged his thumbnail along the edge to scrape some of the excess nail polish from her skin before wiping it on his pant leg of his sweatpants. When he'd finished with the color, he retrieved the sealer polish to apply to the drying nail polish on Tin-Tin's toes.

"I'm glad you like it." Alan smiled as he continued to focus on painting Tin-Tin's toenails.

Several more minutes passed before Alan was finished painting Tin-Tin's toenails. When he finished he crossed Tin-Tin's feet at the ankles before laying them to the side and grabbing one of her hands to begin working on Tin-Tin's fingernails. The two of them talked about nothing and everything – even going so far as to discuss and swap flirting tips with each other. Tin-Tin hinted at liking someone, but Alan hadn't figured out if maybe she had a crush on one of his brothers or Fermat. He didn't think that she'd ever have a crush on him, they were enemies for the longest time and now friends.

Tin-Tin learned that Alan did have a crush on someone, but she figured that Alan had a crush on a girl he met through one of the school chatrooms which had a conjoined database with a girl's school in the local area…either that or he had a crush on Lady P…but then he made that one obvious with constantly telling her how nice she looked. Sometimes he'd talk about how nice Lady P looked in a particular outfit whenever he Tin-Tin and Fermat were together or he'd ogle at Lady P when she'd lounge by the pool in a tankini and sarong.

When Alan finished with the mani-pedi – both teens were shocked to find that they'd spent pretty much the entire day together. Alan had stopped by at noon and it was already six o'clock in the evening. Alan helped Tin-Tin straighten up her bedroom, dumping out the foot soak and putting away Tin-Tin spa kit before he started to leave.

"Alan wait!" Alan paused and turned around when Tin-Tin called after him.

"What's up?" Alan wanted to know what Tin-Tin wanted. He was beginning to feel tired and he wanted to go to bed.

"Here." Tin-Tin leaned up close and kissed Alan on the cheek before pulling away. "You're a great guy…thanks so much for treating me today. I had a blast."

Alan smiled at Tin-Tin as he touched his cheek before nodding dumbly. Walking away, Alan returned to his bedroom, feeling like he was walking on clouds.


	3. I Could Fall in Love

"The things I do for you Tin-Tin." Alan said as he grimaced while walking with Tin-Tin down the grocery aisle meant for babies and feminine products. Averting his gaze, Alan tried to hide a blush from the matronly women who tittered at him – no doubt muttering to each other how Alan was such a good boyfriend to accompany his girlfriend…er…female friend on a 'supply run'.

"Hey Alan…can you reach those for me?" Tin-Tin pointed at a package of all places – on the top shelf. Heaving a sigh, Alan stood on the tips of his toes to reach the package for Tin-Tin and he tossed them in the grocery cart like he'd been burnt by them. Looking around, Alan tried to hide his self-consciousness from anyone that may see them looking at female products. This was so not Alan's thing and he hated that he got stuck with the duty of supply run while Virgil sat in the car.

"Okay, now we need to look for shampoo for Virgil, Scott, and Gordon, your dad, you and my family." Tin-Tin crossed off the items they'd already retrieved. Glancing at Alan, Tin-Tin heaved a sigh. "Oh come on Alan…you have to admit – me picking up my own items has to be better than that time I asked you to pick them up for me when Lady P was bringing you home."

"I still don't understand why Lady P didn't get them for you…she's a girl she knows what to look for – me I had to ask someone to show me where they were. Asking alone was embarrassing enough." Alan groaned.

"I'm pretty sure Parker buys those things for Lady P Alan, I just can't see Lady P going into a store." Tin-Tin replied as they left the feminine aisle and went to the soap aisle.

"He's brave if he can do that." Alan rubbed the back of his neck as he felt the heat creeping up to his face.

"You bought them for me when I asked you to." Tin-Tin grinned at Alan. "Thank you by the way."

"I risked what little masculinity I had the moment I asked the clerk where they were." Alan moved his hand from his neck to his face as he felt his face heat up further. "Please don't make me do that again."

"Um…newsflash…in the event that you have any daughters you'll need to buy them then too." Tin-Tin remarked with a sing-song tone.

"No I won't…my wife can buy them." Alan stated as he placed a mental barrier up on the traumatizing incident of buying feminine products for Tin-Tin the one time she couldn't do it herself.

"Right…we'll see about that." Tin-Tin said as she and Alan moved further through the soap aisle – selecting the scents that everybody favored over others.

* * *

Alan knocked on Tin-Tin's bedroom door lightly. He didn't want to bother her if she was sleeping; she'd gone to bed early last night and he could see on her face what was going on. It concerned him to see the pained grimace on her face, but despite how uncomfortable it made him…he still wanted to check on her. It bummed him out to see her in such pain, I mean…she was still his friend, lady problems or not.

Hearing the soft answer, Alan opened Tin-Tin's bedroom door to peek inside and saw a lump under the blankets on the bed. Entering the room, Alan softly shut her bedroom door despite the requested open door policy their parents had in place.

"Are you okay Tin?" Alan perched on Tin-Tin's bed and stared at her back. She was curled into a ball with her knees to her chest.

"Not right now Alan…what do you want?" Tin-Tin answered softly.

"Just wanted to check on you, you never came down for breakfast." Alan kept his hands to himself – having heard somewhere that some girls were anti-touch when experiencing their 'thing'.

"Please don't mention food." Tin-Tin groaned as she curled into a tighter ball if that was possible. She emitted a pained whimper and remained curled up for several minutes before she slowly uncurled.

"Is there anything I can do for you Tin-Tin?" Alan asked – unsure if he might be crossing a boundary.

"I can't think of anything right now." Tin-Tin curled back up into another ball with another whimper and suddenly Alan felt his hands moving on their own and he flipped the bed covers at Tin-Tin's feet and began to massage her feet like he did whenever he gave her a pedicure like he'd done several months ago when he'd been home sick. Tin-Tin gave a soft moan when Alan hit a spot in her foot and Alan continued to knead that spot.

When Tin-Tin relaxed enough once more, she gave a sniffle.

"What's wrong Tin-Tin?" Alan asked as he continued to rub Tin-Tin's feet.

"I'm just surprised that you're here with me and doing this for me. I appreciate it." Tin-Tin scrubbed at her eyes. "Nobody has ever done this for me before."

"I just wanted to do something for you; I couldn't stand seeing you in pain." Alan replied as he looked at Tin-Tin. "Let me know if there's anything I can do for you Tin."

Tin-Tin bit her lip from beneath her blankets. She was moved to tears that despite Alan's obvious discomfort with even being in the same room with her during that time of the month, he seemed to be sticking around and willing to do practically anything for her.

"Al?" Tin-Tin wrapped her arms around her midsection as she felt another cramp coming on.

"Yeah Tin?" Alan gently kneaded the arch of Tin-Tin's left foot.

"Can you do me a favor?" Tin-Tin gently removed her blankets from the top of her head as she peeked at her friend.

"What, it's not something weird is it?" Alan gave Tin-Tin a strange look as if he anticipated Tin-Tin asking him to go on another one of those dreaded supply runs.

"No…could you draw me up a hot bath? The hotter…the better." Tin-Tin gazed at Alan with a pout.

"Sure." Alan pulled the bed covers back down over Tin-Tin's feet before he went into her bathroom to fill her bathtub. Wanting to make the bath as relaxing and soothing as was possible, Alan whipped out his phone to do a little research as he looked through her array of bath salts that she kept in a basket beside her tub. He wanted her to be able to relax as much as possible and he selected a rose scented bath salt. Scrolling through his phone, Alan read through a guide for guy's titled: How to help your Girlfriend during That Special Time. It was basically a crash course for guys who had no clue how to help their girlfriends/wives or in Alan's case – his friend who just happened to be a girl. "Okay Tin, your bath is ready."

"Thanks Alan." Tin-Tin replied softly from her bedroom. Alan dropped the bath salt in the water to give it adequate time to dissolve before he moved back into Tin-Tin's bedroom. Going over, Alan let Tin-Tin hold his arm as a wave of dizziness swept over her. Noticing her long hair was going to be a bit of a problem, Alan grabbed a scrunchie from her vanity and pulled her hair up into a loose bun. Tin-Tin paused as she felt Alan pulling her hair up from her shoulders. "Alan, where did you learn to make a bun?"

Alan blushed as he tried to decide if he wanted to tell Tin-Tin that during that short period that he lived with his grandma that he had a female friend then too. Page always…always asked Alan to braid her hair for her since he was her only friend and she was his.

"When I lived with grandma back in Kansas – before the two of us came to live here. I had a friend - Page, she was constantly asking me to do her hair for her so I just learned how to do girl's hair. Then we moved back here and I haven't heard from Page since." Alan felt slightly sad as Page was his first friend. In a brief fleeting thought, Alan wondered if he should look her up online, but filed it away to do at another time. Right now Tin-Tin was his main focus. "I hope you don't mind."

"No Alan, I don't mind. Thanks." Tin-Tin leaned her head on Alan's shoulder in a moment of intimate appreciation and she let Alan give her the smallest of hugs.

"Better get on to your bath, before the water cools down." Alan ushered Tin-Tin on as he tried to hide his blush at being embraced by Tin-Tin. Alan looked Tin-Tin up and down and took in her wardrobe of baggy sweats and hoodie. Of course they were the articles of clothing that he'd loaned her – the few times that she stayed at his house when he, Fermat and Tin-Tin had their Friday movie nights in the lounge. Tin-Tin kept a lingering hand on Alan's arm before moving to her dresser and grabbing some new pajamas before slipping into her bathroom – closing the door with a soft click.

* * *

Inhaling deeply, Tin-Tin felt tears spring to her eyes as she took in that Alan had gone the extra mile to help her feel better. He'd set out her little bath pillow on the edge of the bathtub, pulled out one of her fluffiest towels and set it on the lid of her toilet and if she was not mistaken he'd put bath salts in the water for her judging on the pinkish tint to the water, that and the sweet smell of the atmosphere in the room. Looking around, Tin-Tin set her small pile of clothes on the sink counter before undressing. Slipping into the water with a sigh, Tin-Tin closed her eyes and actually felt the tension melt away.

Reclining her head back against the bath pillow, Tin-Tin closed her eyes as she allowed the hot water to work its magic. Despite how bad she felt, Alan had been able to make her feel a small semblance of normalcy with his gentle ministrations. Like how she'd treated him when he'd been sick, he'd treated her equally as good.

The next time she opened her eyes, Tin-Tin noticed the water had cooled to room temperature and had chilled considerably. Feeling more relaxed than she'd been previously – she decided it'd probably be best that she go ahead and get out. Pulling the plug from the drain, Tin-Tin watched as the water was sucked away. Standing up, Tin-Tin dried off before putting her pajamas on, Tin-Tin grabbed a couple Ibuprofen before opening her bedroom door. What she found brought tears to her eyes again.

Alan sat in her window seat with a tray in front of him. A tea kettle and a bowl of fruit were placed on the tray and Alan looked out the window as birds flew about, building nests in the eaves of the villa just above Tin-Tin's window. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she stepped forward.

"What are you still doing here?" Tin-Tin wasn't mad…far from it in fact. She was deeply moved at how far Alan was going to make her feel better and she could never even begin to thank him enough for all he was doing. He didn't have to do this, but he seemed to be doing it not out of duty or obligation – but because he wanted to.

"I…I know you didn't want me to mention food – so I went to ask your mom if there was anything you'd eat and she gave me some mangos and papaya. Said that you like these when you weren't feeling well. And she gave me some peppermint tea for you." Alan looked away with a bashful blush. "I hope you don't mind."

"Thank you Alan." Tin-Tin simply smiled at Alan – feeling better than she had all day with Alan's careful nurturing. Sitting on her bed, she pulled her blankets up and sat against the headboard before patting a spot beside her on the bed. Alan slid from his perch before bringing the tray to Tin-Tin's bedside and sitting in the spot Tin-Tin patted. Playing her personal butler, Alan poured her a cup of the still warm tea – having listened to Onaha's suggestion of using the electric kettle rather than a conventional one. Tin-Tin took a sip with a sigh as the tea vapors helped to relax her further.

"What made you want to help me Alan?" Tin-Tin laid her head on Alan's shoulder again as she cradled the mug between her hands.

"Do you want the truth?" Alan asked uncertainly.

"That depends…is it bad?" Tin-Tin picked up her television remote and turned on the television – muting it before flipping channels.

"No, at least I don't think so." Alan stilled Tin-Tin's channel surfing with a gentle hand on top of hers – he'd stopped the surfing on 'Selena'. Little Selena was being taught how to dance the 'washing machine' on the boardwalk with her brother and sister by their mother.

"Sure." Tin-Tin granted as she turned her attention to the movie – turning on the subtitles so they could watch it without having to listen.

"Because I don't like to see you in pain. I…I care for you and it hurts me to see you in such pain." Alan glanced down at Tin-Tin's hand – where he still held her hand gently. Tin-Tin looked down at their hands and she rotated her hand slightly so that their palms touched. Flexing her fingers, Tin-Tin interlocked their fingers together. "I…I like you Tin…more than I probably should and you'll probably laugh at me but I think I l-love you."

Tin-Tin's breath caught in her throat at Alan's confession before turning shining eyes to Alan's.

"Do you really mean that? That you love me?" Tin-Tin smiled hopefully.

"Yeah, it's something that I've wondered about for a while now. I'm pretty sure it's safe to say…that I've fallen for you." Alan admitted as he resisted the urge to separate his hand from Tin-Tin's. He was sure that if he could feel his palms sweating, surely she could too.

"I love you too Alan." Tin-Tin snuggled into Alan's shoulder, settling down to watch the movie…they allowed the silence to fall as they turned up the volume to the film and watched it through to the end, listening to Selena sing Dreaming of You softly in the background..

_ "…So I wait for the day and the courage to say how much I love you."_

Wrapping his arms around Tin-Tin, Alan allowed her to snuggle into him. She laid her head on his chest, listening to the rhythmic '_lub-dub_' of his calmly beating heart. Closing her eyes, Tin-Tin snuggled deeper into Alan's arms as she fell asleep. Resting his head on top of hers, Alan pecked a light kiss on her forehead before succumbing to the fatigue. Working up the courage to tell the girl you loved took a lot of energy.

* * *

**A/N: So this chapter was kind of TMI, but this is how I'd see Alan and Tin-Tin's relationship beginning to blossom. Generally this is how I'd view most guys that are not just trying to sweep a girl off her feet to act...loving, caring - despite their discomfort with the situation. And since this is just kind of dreamed up (never actually experienced this before...ever) I just wrote something fluffy and corny. **

**Hope you all like and soon - I say this with a broad smile, I should be posting another chapter or two to Rising from the Ashes. Currently working on the sequel to Never Stop Looking and it is looking like it may be longer than the first story ever was. Yay! =)**

**And I want to thank everyone for the birthday wishes. September 30 was in fact my b-day. It really brightened my day as your reviews were my only presents this year (sad I know). Living several hours away from family and my only close proximity family (brother) was working late so there sadly wasn't a celebration as I don't have any friends in this town(dang not even a boyfriend). But I'll count ya'll's reviews and birthday wishes as my presents and I want to thank you all immensely for making my day something to look forward to.**

**Hugs to you all and just a little blurb to say you all rock!**

**~Angel~**


	4. Lift With Your Knees, Never Your Back

"I told you to lift with your knees, not your back." Tin-Tin said as she guided a hunched Alan into the living room of the villa. He had a hand pressed into the small of his back, a look of pain crossing his face.

"Shut up Tin-Tin." Alan groaned pitifully as he tried to breathe through the pain. It was really difficult to do when you felt like just merely breathing would make the pain worse.

"I wish you'd let me help you…father always asks for my help when it comes to moving the planting boxes." Tin-Tin gently put her hand on Alan's lower back and jerked away at Alan's sharp inhale.

"Please don't touch…oh God that hurts." Alan's grimace transformed as tears peeked out of the corners of Alan's eyes.

"Sorry." Tin-Tin moved her hand to wrap around Alan's waist, gingerly avoiding the spot which was causing the youngest Tracy such pain. "Let's get you lying down."

Tin-Tin walked the both of them over to the couch, slowly easing Alan down to lie on his stomach. She fluffed a couple of throw pillows and put them beneath Alan's head and chest and Alan dropped his head into one of the pillows before groaning aloud. His back was killing him. He knew he should have listened to Tin-Tin when she instructed him to lift with his knees, not his back…but he obviously hadn't listened and now he was suffering the consequences.

"I'm going to go get you a hot water bottle. I'll be right back Alan." Tin-Tin stood before going to the kitchen to get Alan a hot water bottle for his back. Sure she felt bad for her friend, but she wasn't about to completely baby him. He caused his injuries whether intentional or not. As she entered the kitchen, she passed Gordon who appeared to be just getting ready to go out for a swim.

"Hey Tin-Tin." Gordon said as he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.

"Hi Gordon." Tin-Tin said with slight distraction. She was more focused on other things at present and felt that she needed to get Alan taken care of so that he could relax. Crouching beside the counter, Tin-Tin began rooting around in search of the hot water bottle that she knew usually resided in there.

"What're you looking for Tin?" Gordon asked as he leaned on the counter, peering over Tin-Tin's shoulder to try to see into which cupboard she was riffling through

"A hot water bottle…no it's not for me." Tin-Tin cut Gordon off from saying anything in regards to her and hot water bottles. Somehow Gordon had found out about the time she and Alan had spent together when she'd been laid up due to her time of the month and he'd teased Alan about his being lovey dovey with Tin-Tin. "It's for Alan."

"Oh, he's finally come into his own and admitted to his PMS problem?" Gordon asked with a smirk but clutched at his calf when Tin-Tin punched him hard enough to make his leg Charlie horse. "OW! Tin-Tin!"

"You said it, not me…and in answer to your question. No, Alan's not PMSing. Boys aren't capable of such things." Tin-Tin said as she dug further before discovering the item she'd been searching for. "Here it is!"

"So what's up with Alan then?" Gordon asked as he rubbed his calf.

"He threw his back out helping my father move those potted house plants from the sun to the shade." Tin-Tin said as she prepared some hot water in the electric kettle. "I'm getting him a hot water bottle for his back."

"I can help with his back pain…I know kind of what he's going through." Gordon offered, frowning when Tin-Tin shook her head.

"No, I don't think Alan wants his back popped. It seems more like he strained a muscle that popping something out of joint." Tin-Tin filled the hot water bottle and sealed it before wrapping it with a towel so Alan wouldn't get burned. "We'll be fine. But thanks Gordon."

Gordon frowned with an eye roll. He wasn't about to suggest popping Alan's back, but he didn't say anything as he turned and left the kitchen heading up to his bedroom. He had a remedy for Alan's back pain which should get rid of it just as fast as ibuprofen if not faster. Meanwhile Tin-Tin had returned to the living room and she lifted Alan's t-shirt before nestling the hot water bottle onto Alan's back before covering the bottle with his t-shirt.

"Aah, Tin-Tin…that feels marvelous." Alan moaned as he lay on the couch, head buried into amongst the pillows. "Thank you."

"No problem Alan." Tin-Tin sat on the floor, her back pressed against the couch, just below Alan's shoulder. "No problem at all."

Tin-Tin turned on the television and she and Alan began watching a rerun episode of Are You Afraid of The Dark? Tin-Tin reached up and held Alan's hand and she and Alan were enthralled in what they were watching. So enthralled in fact that they were both unaware of a pair of eyes lurking around the corner of the living room.

"What're you guys doing?" Gordon popped into the living room and literally made both Alan and Tin-Tin leap out of their spots. Tin-Tin was fine, if not a little startled, but Alan was another story altogether. He released a pained gasp and one of his hands traveled to his back while the other squeezed the life from one of the pillows as lightning bolts shot through his back. Alan buried his face into one of the pillows to hide the tears springing to his eyes from both Tin-Tin and Gordon.

"Alan!" Tin-Tin spun at Alan's pained gasp, her eyebrows traveling almost up to her hairline. "What's the matter? Are you okay?"

"Back." Alan groaned from his pillow, not willing to lift his head to speak to his friend or brother for fear that the tears might be visible.

"Shoot! I'm so sorry Allie!" Gordon had a look of shame on his face as he hadn't thought Alan and Tin-Tin would have that kind of reaction to him popping into the living room where they were at. "Is there anything I can do?"

"No…please don't touch me." Alan said, his voice small as the pain in his back made his back throb and it'd stolen his breathe away. Alan held a shaking hand up to ward off Gordon or Tin-Tin's advances towards him. "Just let me be for now…please."

Tin-Tin knelt beside Alan wanting to do something for him, but not wanting to make him snap at her. She grabbed the hot water bottle which had fallen from Alan's back and ran to the kitchen to reheat it. It seemed to work before for Alan and she hoped it could work some magic on him again. After reheating the bottle, she was back by Alan, preparing to put it on Alan's back when Gordon stopped her. She gave him an incredulous look until he handed her a tube of muscle rub.

Of course! Gordon had a temperamental back so why wouldn't he have something that could ease back pain from overuse or abuse? In Alan's case he'd abused his back by not lifting with his knees like she'd told him to do. Why didn't Tin-Tin think of asking Gordon sooner than him running off these last twenty minutes or so? Alan could be receiving relief by now had she'd thought of asking Gordon for something to use on Alan's back.

"Thanks Gordon." Tin-Tin said as she accepted the muscle rub from the aquanaut. Kneeling by Alan again Tin-Tin spoke softly, seeing from Alan's posture that his back was still causing him grief in the five minutes that she'd been gone to reheat his hot water bottle. "Alan, do you mind if I lift your shirt so I can put some muscle rub on your back?"

"Give me a moment please?" Alan asked miserably from his pillow.

"Alan, the pain won't get any better any sooner unless you let Tin-Tin apply it so you can relax. I should know." Gordon sat on the arm of the couch and leaned over his little brother, not liking that the kid was in such pain at present. "I'll lift your shirt for Tin-Tin if you want and she'll apply the medicine, replace your hot water bottle and away you go…okay Sprout?"

At Alan's small nod, Gordon reached over and plucked the hem of Alan's t-shirt from his back while the older brother instructed Tin-Tin how much medicine to apply to Alan's back and how best to rub it in for maximum relief. Tin-Tin squirted a quarter sized amount on her finger tips and looked from her hands to Alan's back to Gordon and back to Alan again. Reaching out tentatively, Tin-Tin began to rub in a small circular motion, Alan stiffening at the cool medicine touching his back before relaxing at Tin-Tin's gentle touch.

"There now, that's better huh kiddo?" Gordon said as he wordlessly instructed Tin-Tin to increase pressure only slightly to knead the muscles in Alan's back. Alan's sigh was clue enough to how much better his back was beginning to feel with the massage. "I'll leave you to it Tin-Tin…I'll be in the pool. Holler if you need my help with anything or have any questions. Okay?"

"Okay Gordon. Thanks." Tin-Tin smiled up at Gordon before continuing to massage Alan's back

"No problem…and I'm sorry for having scared you both earlier." Gordon apologized before leaving the living room and Alan and Tin-Tin to it.

* * *

Alan struggled to stay awake what with Tin-Tin's continued massage to his lower back and he turned his head to talk to Tin-Tin.

"You know you don't have to continue doing that Tin. My back feels better." Alan said as Tin-Tin shifted from one spot on his back to another. Burying his face in the pillow Alan muffled a pleased moan. "Don't stop Tin-Tin."

"I knew you'd like a back rub." Tin-Tin said as she increased the elbow grease and she smiled again when Alan moaned once more. "This is why I haven't stopped rubbing your back yet, you deserve a little pampering every now and again. Everyone deserves a little pampering from time to time."

"Yeah, but I…" Alan trailed off when Tin-Tin moved to another spot on Alan's back before picking up where he left off. "…Don't want you to spend your afternoon rubbing my back. I'd like to spend time watching a movie with you like we'd planned."

"So put on a movie, I'll sit up here and rub your back…or I can create a pallet on the floor and we can sit down there whilst I continue to rub your back." Tin-Tin suggested as she continued to rub Alan's back. "It's your choice Al."

"I know it's corny, but how about watching Beethoven's 2nd? I feel like I need to watch something funny." Alan suggested as Tin-Tin had handed him the remote while he scrolled through the list of movies that he and Tin-Tin could watch.

"You and your love of animals…really, if you like dogs so much, why don't you ask your dad if you can adopt one. I wouldn't mind keeping an eye on it while you're away at school." Tin-Tin said as she nodded in agreement to the movie Alan wanted to watch. She liked watching Beethoven's 2nd as it was a movie favorite of both teenagers. One reason was that they had a mutual love of animals and Alan had confided in Tin-Tin on more than one occasion that when - not if he moves away for college – he'd like to get a dog one day; preferably an older dog that needed love and attention just as much as a puppy. Tin-Tin and Alan agreed that if they both went to college in the same area that they'd be each other's roommate and they'd adopt a dog together since they both wanted a pet one day.

As the movie played, Tin-Tin and Alan both watched enraptured as the lovable lummox of a St. Bernard Beethoven put his humans through the ringer by breeding and producing offspring with another St. Bernard – Missy. Tin-Tin eventually quit rubbing Alan's back and settled on the floor by Alan's head. Alan shifted his head to rest on Tin-Tin's head and he'd nuzzled his cheek against her silky soft hair after Ryce was kissed by her crush. James Ingram and Dolly Parton's duet The Day I Fall in Love played and Alan who'd listened to the song on occasions knew the song by heart and hummed along.

"I'll never promise to be true to anyone…unless it's you." Alan whispered into Tin-Tin's ear, making her shiver. She turned and Alan lifted his head before looking at Tin-Tin dead in the eye. As their eyes met, it was like a magnetic attraction. Tin-Tin leaned in slowly; her eyelashes fluttered closed mimicking Alan as he too closed his eyes.

He could feel the heat and moisture from Tin-Tin's breath as she leaned in closer to him and he leaned as far as he could comfortably go to kiss Tin-Tin. He could faintly hear the song continuing to play in the background, but none of that mattered to him anymore.

Neither teen noticed as the company of Scott and Virgil snuck from the room – amazed that Alan and Tin-Tin finally accepted the mutual attraction and took the plunge together. Alan's brothers had walked in just as Alan and Tin-Tin were leaning into each other and had wisely remained quiet, not bothering to tell either teen that it was dinner time. They could get dinner when they got hungry, for now though they should probably be left alone.

* * *

_**A/N: So I hope you don't mind the schmoozy Alan and Tin-Tin first kiss thing...I was actually listening to the actual Day I Fall in Love when I was writing this chapter and felt it was appropriate. I also speak from experience with the back pain, I myself have a temperamental back and know the feeling which I make Alan suffer from...(aren't I cruel)**_

_**I also wanted to apologize, it looks like the next installment of Rising From the Ashes will be a little longer as I am struggling with my algebra class and I have a boatload of papers for my English class to write as finals are within the next month. I seriously have had no time to write on Rising From the Ashes, I was only able to write on this one because this chapter idea I had just came to me like a lightening bolt and I was at a point to write while I was at the laundromat today. I know it's no excuse for not updating the story and hopefully I'll get a chance to update here very soon.**_

_**I hope you enjoy this chapter and hopefully it will cheer the lot of you up that read my last two oneshots No Way Out and The Boy Death Left Behind...I'll admit, I was in a weird mood when I wrote those two as normally I can't stand deathfics. I love Alan and his family and I like them all being together. Sorry for the deathfics, hope this chapter makes up for their depressing aspects.**_

_**(Not so Angelic) Angel**_


	5. Our Little Secret

"Hey Alan?" Tin-Tin asked as she and Alan walked through the courtyard of Lady Penelope's sprawling grounds. Her ladyship had offered the opportunity for Alan and Tin-Tin to take a holiday on her grounds as a special treat. Virgil had pouted that he wouldn't get to go, but Lady P had graciously given him the chance to join as a quote unquote chaperone. He had some vacation time stockpiled away so he'd jumped at the chance to go and relax for a change.

"Yeah Tin-Tin?" Alan said as he gazed at his and Tin-Tin's intertwined fingers. They'd just recently begun dating and Alan had to admit, never in his wildest dreams had he ever thought Tin-Tin had a mutual interest in him.

"Can we go into the village? Please? Please? Please?" Tin-Tin pulled the puppy pout and smiled jovially as she saw Alan visibly give under the pressure of her puppy pout.

"Fine." Alan said as he began to walk back towards Lady P's manor. "So what do you want to do?"

"I don't know." Tin-Tin shrugged as she walked, not quite sure what she wanted to do with her boyfriend. They had a week there at Lady P's manor and they'd been there for a day so far and had spent almost all of their time outside.

… … … … … …

Holding Tin-Tin's hand, Alan allowed his girlfriend to drag him practically everywhere she desired to go. He'd gone clothes shopping with her and nodded at certain articles she'd modeled for him. Now he had an armload of bags as Lady P had given them a card and told them to buy whatever they wanted, no matter the cost. While both teens had felt bad about using Lady P's card to purchase stuff, she'd assured them that it was all okay. She had plenty of money and felt it should be put to use.

Coming to a halt when he'd bumped into Tin-Tin, he looked up at the sign that she looked at. Sparing a glance at his girlfriend, Alan could practically see the stars glowing in Tin-Tin's eyes. Looking back at the sign Alan gave a grimace.

"Ice Skating?" Alan asked as he looked at Tin-Tin with a guarded expression.

"Oh yes Alan! Please? Pretty please with sugar and kisses on top?" Tin-Tin squeaked as she put her hands together in a prayer pose.

"Fine! Let's go." Alan led the way and walked in the building before renting him and Tin-Tin a pair of skates each. As they put them on, Alan couldn't help but to look around in hopes that he didn't see anyone that might recognize him. He knew it was unlikely, but you never know. After getting the laces tied, Alan and Tin-Tin stood up on wobbly legs and walked towards the ice.

Walking out onto the ice, both Alan and Tin-Tin soon found themselves flat on their butts as they'd both slipped. Giving a loud guffaw, Alan crawled onto his knees before helping Tin-Tin up. He'd stood in the same spot as he tried to find his balance on the ice. Once the two of them were standing, they both took a step before finding their rhythm.

"This is actually pretty fun." Alan smiled as he held Tin-Tin's hand and skating around the rink. They'd already spent a better part of the day there at the ice skating rink and the both of them had quickly learned the ropes of skating.

"Do you think they have lessons that they'd teach for some of the dances?" Tin-Tin asked shyly as she skated beside Alan. She'd glanced down at their feet and noticed how they both took a step at the same time.

"I don't know…want to go find out?" Alan asked, more than hopeful that they might get lessons so they could do more than skate in a circle.

"Sure." Tin-Tin said as she and Alan slowed down before leaving the rink. They'd walked to the front counter and waited until one of the girls working the counter looked up.

"Hi!" Alan smiled at her, causing Tin-Tin to hug him, staking a claim over the boy so the girl behind the counter would know he was off limits.

"How may I help you?" The girl asked with a pleasant smile.

"I was wondering if you had anybody to teach lessons. My girlfriend and I would like to learn a little more than just circling the rink." Alan said picking up on why Tin-Tin was hugging him. He was aware that she was being possessive and he thought it was hot.

"Um…" The girl looked around before she spotted one of their hired teachers. She was an older woman, but she trained people regularly. "Brandy! Got a second?"

Brandy looked up before coming over. She'd been about ready to go onto the ice to skate for a bit when she'd been called over.

"Yes Fiona?" Brandy asked as she looked at her co-worker.

"I've got some people that'd like to learn how to skate a little bit better. Would you like a couple students?" Fiona asked as she looked at Alan and Tin-Tin smiling hopefully.

Brandy looked at the two teens for a moment before nodding her consent. "Sure, let's go on out and I'll give you two a lesson."

Alan and Tin-Tin followed Brandy out onto the ice to a spot that didn't appear to be getting much action.

"Okay, so first I would like to know names." Brandy looked at the two teens with a smile.

"I'm Alan…and this is my girlfriend Tin-Tin." Alan introduced the two of them.

"I'm Brandy." Brandy extended a hand to shake with them.

"Pleasure to meet you two." Brandy said before getting to business. "Now I want you two to skate a round and show me how fast you can go before stopping.

… … … … … …

Alan and Virgil both returned later that evening, feet sore and lethargic. Dropping their purchases from the afternoon just inside the door, Alan and Tin-Tin removed their shoes gratefully.

"Hey, where did you two go all day?" Virgil wandered out of the living area when he heard the door open.

"To the village." Alan replied tiredly. "If you'll excuse me I'm going up to take a shower before dinner."

"Me too." Tin-Tin said equally as tired as Alan before the two of them trudged off upstairs before separating to the opposite wings in Lady P's manor.

Virgil watched the two of them go with a raised eyebrow. He was confused. How could shopping in the village have tired them out so much? Looking at the one or two bags in the doorway, Virgil shook his head. He couldn't figure out what Alan and Tin-Tin had been doing to be so tired, but he was on vacation and he wasn't going to concern himself with it. As long as they were being safe he was fine with it.

The following morning however, Virgil noticed the looks of pain crossing both teens' faces and wondered again at what they had been doing to feel so sore. When they left again that afternoon, Virgil was tempted to follow but didn't. Again, he was on vacation and he was going to relax as much as he could before he would have to go back on duty with IR.

Only when they returned around the same time later that evening as they had the day prior did Virgil finally ask about it.

"Where are you two going and what are you two doing to become this tired?" Virgil stood before Alan and Tin-Tin barring their entrance to the top half of the stairs leading to their bedrooms. "I'm expecting an answer."

"It's fine Virge, we're just feeling a little tired from all the sight-seeing." Alan said, trying to pass off his brother's concern for their wellbeing.

"Fine, I want to see all these places you and Tin-Tin are seeing. I'll join you tomorrow." Virgil said determinedly. Alan and Tin-Tin shared a meaningful look before both nodded their acceptance. Cat was out of the bag now.

… … … … … …

The next morning Alan and Tin-Tin trudged down the stairs, not quite as sore as they had been the day prior; but still sore. They had breakfast with Lady P, Parker and Virgil before going off to lounge around for a bit until the early afternoon. When it had reached that time, Alan and Tin-Tin tried to sneak out without Virgil, but he'd expected it and met them at the door. Insisting to drive his brother and brother's girlfriend into the village, Virgil got behind the wheel of the borrowed car.

"So where are we going?" Virgil asked as he put the car in gear and began to drive.

Alan looked at Tin-Tin before replying. "The Ice Palace."

"Excuse me?" Virgil asked, taken off guard by Alan's response.

"It's called The Ice Palace. It's an indoor ice skating rink." Alan said as he held Tin-Tin's hand. "We've been taking lessons."

Virgil stayed silent, surprised but not believing his brother. Alan wouldn't be caught dead ice skating. The Tracy brothers or Scott and Gordon anyway called it a sissy sport and often made fun of the guys dancing on ice when the figure skating competitions were broadcast on the telly. Nodding with feigned belief, Virgil continued to drive until he'd pulled up outside of The Ice Palace.

"Okay we're here." Virgil said as he turned to look in the backseat. "Are you guys really ice skating or are you just pulling my leg?"

"Come in and you'll see." Alan opened the door and scooted out before giving Tin-Tin a hand out of the car. Both teens walked hand in hand inside before going to the desk. Virgil trailed along behind them, waiting for them to turn around and say gotcha before running off. He was stunned when he saw Alan and Tin-Tin get a pair of ice skating boots each before going to put them on. When Alan and Tin-Tin went out onto the ice, Virgil walked over and stood by the wall of the rink. He watched as an older woman walked out and he just about choked when he recognized her. Brandy Andreas was a world renowned figure skating champion. Virgil liked to watch the figure skating championships occasionally, finding a hidden beauty in it. If he hadn't had the grace of a newborn filly he might try ice skating…but he could be just as much of a klutz as Alan and John.

The rink was empty at the moment and Virgil watched when Brandy Andreas motioned at someone. Soon music filtered into the arena and Alan and Tin-Tin began skating slowly around. Watching in awed silence, Virgil watched Alan and Tin-Tin dance to a song he recognized from a movie of Alan's childhood. Let Me Be Your Wings from Thumbelina. Alan and Tin-Tin danced smoothly together, Alan had only fallen once but he'd gotten right back up and continued skating.

"Are you with them?" Virgil turned suddenly when a voice beside him spoke and had to find his voice as he recognized Brandy Andreas standing beside him.

"Yes, he's my little brother." Virgil motioned to Alan as the kid seamlessly lifted Tin-Tin off the ice and supported her for all of three seconds before setting her back down. "She's my brother's girlfriend."

"They are incredibly talented skaters. I wouldn't mind training them to go for the big leagues." Brandy said as she watched Alan and Tin-Tin skate by. "They are determined; they came back for more regardless of being hardly able to move."

"That's Alan and Tin-Tin for you." Virgil verified. "Neither of them are the type to give up."

"Oh I can see that. The girl, Tin-Tin was it? She fell on the first day and thought she broke her wrist – but despite the pain she kept skating and came in the next day. She just tweaked her wrist, it wasn't broken or sprained.

"Oh." Virgil said as he looked out at Alan and Tin-Tin once more. The both of them moved with such grace, it was hard to believe that they'd only just begun ice skating.

… … … … … …

Alan lip synced along with Tin-Tin as he skated. She'd chosen the song, having told Alan that Thumbelina was probably her all-time favorite movie when she'd been growing up. The song had been placed on a loop and had been replaying so that Alan and Tin-Tin could continue practicing.

"I hope you're having fun Tin." Alan said as he placed his hands expertly on Tin-Tin's waist before the two of them sped up.

"I am, but it's more fun doing this with you." Tin-Tin said as she leaned into Alan's touch. "I suppose we should be glad Virgil was the one who discovered this and not anyone else."

"Yeah, because if I know Gordon or Scoot, their response would be 'artsy-shmartsy – it's still dancing.' Yeah, I'd rather Virgil discover this over any of my other brothers. He at least understands art." Alan said as he and Tin-Tin leaned into a turn.

"Thanks for doing this with me Alan." Tin-Tin said as she prepared for the finishing jump that would end their practice.

"No problem Tin." Alan said before releasing Tin-Tin to do her spiral jump. After that they both came to a stop and held their positions until the heard applause.

Turning towards the applause, Alan and Tin-Tin bowed and curtsied respectively. Before skating off the ice. When they'd gotten off the ice, both Alan and Tin-Tin sank onto the bench. Alan held Tin-Tin's hand with his head resting on her shoulder until he felt a tugging at his feet. Looking down, he found Virgil knelt down and untying the laces of his ice skates.

"You did a great job you guys." Virgil said as he finished removing Alan's skates and began removing Tin-Tin's skates.

"Thanks." Alan and Tin-Tin said softly before slipping back into their shoes and standing slowly.

Brandy approached them as the two teens were led out by Virgil.

"I know you won't be in town for much longer, but if you ever want to continue your lessons, you know where to find me."

"Thanks Brandy…same time tomorrow?" Alan asked with a soft smile.

"Yes, see you tomorrow." Brandy hugged Alan and Tin-Tin before the two teens followed Virgil out. Climbing into the car, Alan and Tin-Tin collapsed like a couple of exhausted puppies.

Snuggling together, Alan and Tin-Tin felt it safe enough to catch a nap for a few minutes while Virgil drove them back to Lady P's manor. Before falling asleep, Alan pried his eyes open.

"You're not going to tell the guys about this…are you?" Alan asked timidly.

"No, it'll be our little secret." Virgil said as he lifted a finger to show silence.

"Thanks Virge." Alan replied before Tin-Tin hummed her thanks also.

"No problem." Virgil said as he drove on. "No problem at all."


	6. Bump ol' Head

**A/N: So I just wanted to apologize to everyone who's been patiently waiting for me to update Rising From the Ashes, I've been incredibly busy with work and now that college finals are done...I've got a little bit of time to write again. I should be able to get another few chapters written for that story, the only reason I've gotten this one done is that I was searching for inspiration to continue on with Rising From the Ashes as I also had a bad bout of writer's block. I am currently working on Ch 10 since I've finished revising ch 9. Here's this chapter to The Miserable hopefully to tide you over until I can finish ch 10.**

* * *

Alan lay awake in his bedroom, gazing at his ceiling. He couldn't sleep. He'd had a not so wonderful fall down the stairs earlier today and his head was pounding thanks to the back of his head being what stopped all movement. His family had been on a rescue at the time and Alan hadn't felt it necessary to tell his family that he'd hit his head. He wasn't a fragile doll that needed to be wrapped in bubble wrap, and he hadn't wanted to be treated as such. Thus he'd decided to suffer in silence and just try to ignore the world around him until the throbbing pain quit pounding away.

Sighing loudly, Alan threw back his blankets and climbed from his bed in search of some relief for his headache. Tugging on a tank top so he'd be considered decent, Alan left his bedroom to go down to the infirmary and get some medicine. He had to do something for his headache and he didn't know how much more he could take of the throbbing. He was halfway considering dealing with Virgil's wrath and waking him up to check him for a concussion, but he'd have felt bad if he had. Virgil and each of his brothers that had gone on the rescue had been completely and totally bushed and deserved sleep. Virgil couldn't recharge his batteries if Alan was waking him up for something as minor as a headache.

Holding a hand to his head, Alan closed his eyes and relied on memory to get him to the infirmary. The lights in the hall were incredibly too bright, though to his family they might think the lights were dim. But they weren't Alan dealing with a pounding headache. He'd nearly cried in relief when he heard the '_swish_' of the infirmary doors. He was close to finding relief for his headache. Cracking his eyes open, Alan tried to ignore the pulsating pain behind his eyes as he strode to the medicine cabinet to get a headache tablet. When he'd finally gotten the key in the lock, Alan just about trashed Virgil's medicine stash in search of the coveted pain medication and he'd groaned when he'd discovered the bottle to be empty.

"Virgil must still be waiting for his order to come in." Alan muttered to himself as he tried to figure out something else that could get rid of his headache. Turning away, Alan decided he'd check the kitchen…John once told him that chocolate fixed his headaches, or was it chocolate caused headaches? Alan couldn't remember but he'd do anything for some relief. Going back up the ramp, Alan moved into the kitchen and was shocked to find Tin-Tin sitting up at the table with a mug. He could see it was tea, judging on the tea bag tag hanging over the edge of the mug's lip.

"Alan? What are you doing up?" Tin-Tin asked as she motioned for Alan to take a seat beside her at the table.

"I couldn't sleep." Alan said as he sat at the table, not bothering to hide his discomfort from Tin-Tin. She'd figure it out soon enough. Laying his head on the table, Alan stifled a groan as the movement made his head throb.

"Got a headache, huh?" Tin-Tin asked as she understood Alan's gesture. Over the past couple months; she'd gotten really good at reading Alan's body language.

"Like you wouldn't believe." Alan mumbled from within the shelter of his arms.

"Here." Tin-Tin gently slid her mug of tea over to Alan, making him take a sip.

"Gross, what is that stuff Tin-Tin?" Alan wiped his mouth after taking a sip of the tea and he'd wrinkled his nose at the mug.

"It's peppermint tea…take another sip. It'll help." Tin-Tin started to lift the mug to Alan's lips but Alan refused.

"Why does it taste so bad?" Alan asked with disdain.

"There's no sugar in it…that's why." Tin-Tin said before forcing Alan to take another sip of the tea. Alan gave a cough, before humoring Tin-Tin and finishing the last of the peppermint tea. When he'd finished it, he'd laid his head on the table top with a groan. The last thing he'd expected was Tin-Tin rubbing his neck firmly. It wasn't until Tin-Tin began rubbing his neck that Alan realized how stiff his neck was from the fall. "Geez, you're tense Alan."

"I know." Alan mumbled when Tin-Tin hit the sweet spot in his neck, practically turning Alan into a lump of jelly.

"What'd you do? You're never this tense." Tin-Tin asked as she kneaded Alan's neck and shoulders.

"Promise you won't get mad?" Alan asked.

"Maybe…" Tin-Tin replied, her voice tensing.

"I might or might not have taken a spill down the stairs earlier." Alan admitted.

"I thought you fell down the stairs today." Tin-Tin muttered under her breathe, obviously angry with Alan for hiding it.

"How'd you figure?" Alan asked.

"I'd heard a crash earlier and when I came to investigate I found you moving slowly up the stairs, but I didn't say anything because I thought maybe you'd knocked something over." Tin-Tin replied as she slowed the massage to Alan's neck and shoulders. "You're an idiot sometimes Al. You could have been seriously hurt."

"I know, but I didn't want to say anything when Virgil came home. He looked ready to collapse and I just wanted to let him get on to bed." Alan replied morosely.

"But Alan, you know that if you hit your head you should maybe mention it. I mean how do you think Virgil and everybody else would have felt if you went to sleep and we couldn't wake you up because you went to sleep with a concussion?" Tin-Tin squeezed Alan's neck tightly, making Alan moan when she'd squeezed too hard. "How do you think I'd feel?"

"I know, I'm sorry Tin! I promise I won't do it again." Alan whimpered as he tried to beg off the chewing out Tin-Tin was giving him.

"You're darn right you won't. That's why we are marching up to Virgil's bedroom to have him check you over. I don't care if he gets pissed with me; it's your health that we should be concerned with." Tin-Tin said as she hauled Alan none too gently up from the chair he sat in. "I'd feel even worse if you went to sleep and fell into a coma because that rock hard head of yours was broken. Get going."

"Yes ma'am." Alan replied, knowing that Tin-Tin could be scary when she felt like it and though she didn't look it…she was furious with Alan.

… … … … … …

Virgil growled as he handed Alan some headache tablets he'd told Tin-Tin to go retrieve from Thunderbird Two. It was clear that Alan had a decent sized goose egg on the back of his head, which was paired with a grade two concussion. He was not at all happy with having been woken up by Alan and Tin-Tin, but his irritation was overruled by his concern when he'd glimpsed and felt the goose egg on the back of Alan's head. The goose egg was probably about the size of a grapefruit and that was putting it mildly.

"Because of your foolishness, I am keeping you here to be monitored by Brains and myself until we are sure you won't suffer any adverse effects from that little introduction with the marble floor you mentioned." Virgil said, his voice clearly angered at Alan's delay in mentioning that he'd been hurt. "Do you understand me?"

"Yes…sir." Alan replied but yelped when Virgil smacked him in the arm.

"Don't call me sir." Virgil said as he took the glass of water from Tin-Tin and passed it to Alan before watching him drink down the tablets and water. When the pills had been taken, Virgil took the glass and manhandled Alan back to lay down. "You are going to stay there until Brains or myself deems you fit to be up moving around."

"Yes Virgil." Alan replied, his voice like a kicked puppy

"Try to get some rest." Virgil's voice softened before he pulled the blankets up over Alan. "Tin-Tin honey, can I trouble you to keep an eye on my idiotic baby brother while I go let Brains know about Alan's accident?"

"Sure thing Virgil…then please go help yourself to some chamomile tea and get some more sleep yourself." Tin-Tin said as she mentioned one of Virgil's favorite nighttime drinks.

'Thanks Tin-Tin. I will." Virgil left the infirmary and that left Alan and Tin-Tin alone.

"You're not still mad at me are you Tin-Tin?" Alan asked meekly.

"I am not too happy with you, but I'm not overly mad at you either." Tin-Tin leaned in and kissed the tip of Alan's nose before leaning back. "Close your eyes and follow the doctor's orders."

"Yes ma'am." Alan said softly before closing his eyes and making an effort to go to sleep like told.

"Don't call me ma'am." Tin-Tin whispered fondly as she gently brushed Alan's bangs from his eyes before leaning back over and giving him a light kiss on the corner of his mouth.


	7. Cry pt1

Alan ran from the living room of the villa, head bowed. He didn't care that it was raining outside, nor did he care that it was stormy outside. All he cared about was getting away. He couldn't believe she said that. Is that really what she thought of him? He thought they were past that.

No…they weren't past that. Probably never would be. Racing through the kitchen, Alan hurtled past Scott who was just getting ready to take a nibble of pie that Grandma made and left to cool on the counter. Alan lowered his gaze before flinging the door open and darting past the threshold, out into the pouring rain, away from the argument, away from her.

… … … … … …

Tin-Tin stood in the living room, hands clutching at her head as she sobbed. She couldn't believe she'd said that to him. She had to be the worst girlfriend for having said such hurtful things. It was just an argument and it'd escalated to epic proportions, beyond that if Tin-Tin was being honest.

"_How could you say such a hurtful thing to my mom?! Just because you don't like cauliflower doesn't mean you need to tell her that her cooking is disgusting!" Tin-Tin's olive complexion brightened to a shade of red as her temper reached her boiling point._

_ "I never said her cooking was disgusting! I said I thought cauliflower was disgusting and I felt that broccoli would be better!" Alan threw his hands up in the air as he defended himself. He hadn't told Onaha that he thought her cooking was disgusting, far from it in fact. He'd actually told Onaha that he just didn't like cauliflower and she nodded her understanding before offering to make it with broccoli next time to see if it sat better with his pallet. He'd apologized for not eating dinner the night before without gagging on the cauliflower that had been put in the vegetable medley._

_ "You did so! I heard you! Need I repeat what you said?! I think cauliflower is disgusting and it didn't make dinner very tasty last night! That right there says you told my mother that her cooking was disgusting! Do you realize how much that hurts her feelings to hear that the food she cooks out of the goodness of her heart is not appreciated?! That's practically the equivalency of my saying that I'm happy your mother is dead!"_

_ Tin-Tin paused as soon as the words left her mouth. She couldn't believe she'd just said that and judging on the look on Alan's face, he couldn't believe she'd said it either. His eyes began to shine slightly and Tin-Tin, her anger melted instantaneously when she realized that she'd hit a nerve – one that she shouldn't have even tried to hit. Stepping forward, Tin-Tin reached out a hand, but Alan was having none of it._

_ "How could you?" All that was whispered before Alan turned and ran from the living room, the glimmer of tears concealing his sapphire blue eyes._

"I'm so sorry Alan." Tin-Tin who still clutched at her head, tugging on her hair at the roots whispered mournfully into the empty room.

… … … … … …

Alan finally came to a stop on the north beach. The weather and the roiling ocean matched his mood and it was all Alan could do to not begin blubbering like a little baby. Sinking down onto the saturated sand, Alan hugged his knees to his chest as he allowed the sobs to break free. His shoulders shook violently as he wailed into the shelter of his arms.

He jumped when he felt a warm and strong arm pull him forcefully into an equally warm chest. He however didn't give a damn over who was witnessing him cry. All that mattered to him was that his heart was breaking and there wasn't a thing that anyone could do to fix it. There weren't any G.I. Joe Band-Aids big enough to close the jagged crack tearing his heart into two.

"Ssh, Sprout…it's okay."

Alan just released his heartbreak into the strong chest and he didn't care to notice that the rain inexplicably stopped even though he could still hear the pounding of rain on the ground all around him. All he noticed was the comforting embrace that held him close, the burn of his tears streaking across his face and the gentle murmuring of his _always-there-to-kiss-the-boo-boo_ big brother. Scott would make this all better, he had to…he couldn't afford not to.

Right?

… … … … … …

Tin-Tin sat before her mother and father and Mr. Tracy, head bowed in shame as she received a reprimand from not only her mother and father but the silent reprimand that Mr. Tracy handed out to people he was truly angry with. She knew she'd gone too far saying what she'd said to Alan and she wished she could take it all back.

"Tin-Tin, I asked Alan for his feedback about dinner. You of all people should know that I am always asking our family how I can better improve my cooking." Onaha reprimanded, having watched a tearful Alan race out the door – immediately followed by Scott who'd gone out with just an umbrella for shelter from the storm. "Why would you get so mad as to hurt Alan the way you did?" The unsaid words of '_I thought you loved him_ flitted through the air, making Tin-Tin feel like 10 times the heel than was physically possible.

"I didn't mean to mother – father…Mr. Tracy. I…I just felt so mad when I overheard Alan saying what he said…I didn't stop to verify the facts and as a result I let my tongue over-ride my brain and something I never should have said was said. I am deeply sorry for what I said and how much pain I've caused Alan. I'm not expecting forgiveness, simply put that I don't deserve it."

"I know you don't deserve it."

All eyes flitted up to the door to meet the enraged glare of a sodden Scott Carpenter Tracy. His gaze was dangerous and anybody who crossed him had to have a death wish. His gaze however was locked on Tin-Tin and she resigned to her fate that she'd probably ruined the best thing she'd ever had simply because she hadn't allowed Alan a moment to explain that he was offering constructive criticism that her mother asked for.

"Anybody who makes my little brother cry – lover or not should be more than a little ashamed. Do you have any idea how much you damaged Alan? He wouldn't even come back into his home for fear of seeing you and…of you picking the scab of the wound just a little bit more than anybody should." Scott's nares flared as the anger he felt claimed him. "He'd rather sit out in the freezing rain and sob his heart out over the girl he loved smashing his fragile heart into tiny bits than come back in and get warm to avoid catching cold. I had to force him to come back into _our_ home!"

… … … … … …

Alan lay curled up despondently beneath his blankets, hair slicked back against his scalp. His eyes were closed against the onslaught of tears and Alan had given up holding them in. The only thing he hid was his sobs and he'd tried to hide those by smothering his mouth and nose with a pillow. It hadn't worked…Gordon and Virgil still came in to find out why he was crying and loudly at that. But Alan hadn't told them what was wrong and he'd got them to leave simply by rolling over onto his side and ignoring them. Alan's thoughts turned back to the words of a Kelly Clarkson song he'd never admitted to liking but having a secret file saved on his iPod of her song Cry…

"Is this what it feels like to really cry?" Alan whispered aloud, but just barely loud enough for himself to hear.


	8. Cry pt2

"Al? Come on. You haven't eaten anything since yesterday." Gordon said softly as he stood out in the hallway, plate piled high with Alan's favorite stuffed French toast. It was one of the few things that Scott was decent at cooking and Scott had put his little morsel together to try to cheer Alan up. The French toast was marinating in syrup and had a light dusting of powdered sugar ala Gordon.

"Go away Gordo. I'm not hungry." Alan's miserable voice floated softly from behind the locked bedroom door.

"The Hell you aren't. Do you want me to have my neck wrung? Scott wants you to eat and he's charged me with the task of shoveling this plate of stuffed strawberry French toast down your gullet. Now open this door and let me in before I have to retrieve the guard dog." Gordon said sternly as he placed a hand on his cocked hip and held the plate delicately in the other hand. "Don't make me count to three, because I will."

"I don't want to see anyone Gordo. Please, just leave me alone." Alan whimpered. The tone of his voice spoke volumes to Gordon, but the older brother wasn't to be deterred. He had a mission and he was going to fulfill the mission even if it made Alan hate him for the rest of their natural lives.

"Too bad Al." Gordon said before he counted aloud. When Alan still refused to open his door, Gordon heaved a laborious sigh before he turned to enter his own bedroom. Looks like his trick of the trade would come in handy.

Striding into his bedroom, Gordon grabbed his multi-tool pocket knife from his dresser and walked outside onto his balcony. He and Alan shared a balcony since their side of the villa was overlooking the expanse of the jungle. Setting the plate on the little table outside on his and Alan's balcony, Gordon moved to kneel before Alan's French door. Flicking the Philip's head screwdriver from its hiding place, Gordon began removing the screws from the door handle. Once he'd gotten the door handle removed, he removed his student ID from his wallet which he always carried with him, even when on the island and used the card to jimmy the lock; thereby opening Alan's bedroom door.

"Go away Gordo, please." Alan said once Gordon made it passed the threshold.

"Not happening kiddo." Gordon said as he pulled the door shut, effectively locking both him and Alan together in Alan's bedroom. "Sit up and eat your breakfast. I'm not kidding, Scott said he'd wring my neck if you didn't even take a couple bites of your breakfast."

Gordon moved over to sit on Alan's bed, shaking his shoulder tenderly. "At least take a couple bites, just enough so I know you're eating." Gordon coaxed before trying to flip Alan.

"No Gordo! No!" Alan cried miserably before being flipped onto his back, revealing his dry tear streaked face and swollen red eyes to the older brother.

"Aw Allie." Gordon said sympathetically. He shifted on the bed, before balancing the plate on his knee. Leaning down, Gordon caught Alan up in a hug. "I'm so sorry Al…broken hearts suck."

Gordon stayed by, listening as Alan poured his heart out. It tore at Gordon's heart to know that Alan's heart had been effectively shattered and the older redhead felt the anger growing deep in his chest as he listened to Alan recount just how the argument transpired – ending with Tin-Tin saying what she said. Alan ate no more than three bites of his breakfast, spending more time changing the flavor of the food with his tears than eating. If Gordon had to nominate some of his most epic fails as big brother, this would probably rank a large 1. He sucked at the touchy feely, let's hold hands and talk about our feelings moments, those moments usually belonged to Virgil or John's territory.

When Gordon finally left Alan's bedroom, he felt none the more successful. He carried a heavy heart and a slightly heavy plate, having helped Alan eat his breakfast, despite the added tears. It was practically a sin in their household to let food go to waste, thus Gordon's urging for Alan to eat despite not having much of an appetite. As he walked down the hall, he rounded the corner to almost run headfirst into Tin-Tin. His eyes narrowed immediately at the sight of the girl who'd broken his brother's heart.

"Gordon, I didn't expect to see you." Tin-Tin said as she took notice of the barely touched plate of food in Gordon's hands. "Didn't you get Alan to eat?"

"What do you care? Huh?" Gordon replied sharply, causing Tin-Tin to take a step back. It was unheard of for Gordon to show his temper, but everyone knew he had an equally as terrifying a temper as their father…all of the Tracy sons did. How they managed to get along as well as they did amazed most because they were always together and never seemed to want to kill each other. "You have a lot of nerve to judge me for not being able to get my little brother to eat his breakfast when it was you who stomped all over his broken heart."

Gordon showed great strength in controlling his temper, when he really wanted to tear Tin-Tin a new one. If he'd been a cartoon character, steam would have been pouring from his ears. Growling low in his chest at Tin-Tin, Gordon brushed past her with the muttered warning.

"Stay away from Alan if you know what's good for you."

… … … … … …

Alan lay on his side, staring dully at a picture of him and Tin-Tin, it was one of the rare photos gotten of them together. Alan was leaning against one of the palm trees just off the deck near the front of the villa, with Tin-Tin leaned back into his chest. The both of them were smiling at the camera, Alan blocking the glare of the sun from his eyes. His hand was held up and looked as though he was waving at the camera.

Feeling his bottom lip tremble, Alan sniffed before unearthing his hand from beneath his massive pile of pillows to lay the picture face down on his night table. Closing his eyes Alan felt the burn of tears which was immediately followed by a sharp pain in his heart. He was sure his heart just broke more than was normal.

… … … … … …

Tin-Tin stood directly outside of Alan's bedroom door. She held her fist poised to knock, but drew back. She didn't want to hurt Alan any more than she'd already done. That and the warning from Gordon made her afraid to knock. Sure Mr. Tracy had raised his boys properly, but there wasn't a doubt in Tin-Tin's mind that when pushed the boys wouldn't raise a hand to a female – especially in defense of their brother. Sure he never actually issued the threat to hit, but Tin-Tin didn't want to test the theory.

Backing away from the door, Tin-Tin turned her back on the door, making the decision to let Alan be for now, since the scab from her verbal barb the day previous was likely still open and bleeding.


	9. Name Your Price

Alan entered the infirmary, his eyes downcast as he approached his older brother. It'd been a month since that fight with Tin-Tin and neither of them had spoken since. He'd been summoned to the infirmary by the medic and Alan had gone grudgingly. He didn't see what the big deal was…he was fine.

"Alan, there you are. I was wondering whether I'd have to send a search party out for you." Virgil said as he sat at his desk, updating the med charts for his family. "Please come over here and have a seat."

Alan moved slowly over to his brother, taking care to observe his surroundings. He didn't want to be ambushed or anything. Virgil seemed to pick up on his observations.

"Nobody else is in here except for you and me Al. And to be sure…" Virgil pressed a button on his desk and a soft _'snick_' sounded by the door. When Alan turned his head to look at the door, he saw the green entry light had turned red; meaning the door to the infirmary was locked tight. Not even zombies in a zombie apocalypse could break down the door to the infirmary and devour them. "I've locked us in."

"Why are you doing this Virge?" Alan asked as he turned worried eyes towards his older brother. Virgil stood at this question, before walking around his desk to look down on his brother.

"I'm doing this for your own good. You're tearing yourself apart and it's beginning to scare us. We want you to get better, but you have to let yourself heal and you can't if you aren't taking care of yourself." Virgil said.

"I am taking care of…" Alan said, before being cut off by Virgil.

"No you aren't. When's the last time you ate a full meal? Or eaten a full meal with the family? I haven't seen you eat but maybe three bites a night when we're having dinner and it has to stop." Virgil ordered. Placing his hands on Alan's shoulders, the medic looked his brother directly in the eye. "You don't look well Alan. You are getting too thin to be considered healthy and it's scaring all of us."

"I'm fine." Alan said, as he tried to brush Virgil's hands off him.

"No you aren't Al. If you don't believe me, then I want you to remove everything from your pockets and take off your shirt and shoes, before getting on the scale over there in the corner so I can see what your weight is." Virgil issued, before rolling his eyes towards the ceiling when Alan removed his jeans and t-shirt to stand in only his boxers and socks. "Or you can take off your pants that'll work too."

Alan went and got on the scale and felt as though he'd drop like a rock when he'd glimpsed his own weight. He'd lost almost eighteen pounds in just one month. He'd been 120 pounds and now he was 102. He felt like he couldn't breathe and only climbed off the scale when Virgil prompted him gently to sit on one of the exam beds. Still sitting in only his boxers, Alan felt cold.

"Do you believe me now Allie? Just looking at your height and weight tells me that you are in the 1st percentile of body mass index for your age group. I should be taking you to the mainland right now as we speak to get you tested and treated for eating disorders right now, but I'm not. I know you've been too depressed to eat and that's what has me most concerned for you." Virgil stressed as he held Alan's hand. "You need to eat, no matter how small your appetite has gotten. I'd rather deal with having to give you alka seltzer tablets for indigestion than watch you waste away. So please Alan, will you try to eat more? I don't want to haul you to the mainland and put you in treatment for eating disorders."

Alan stayed quiet as he stared ahead. Virgil was right, but Alan just couldn't make himself eat when he wasn't hungry.

"I'll try, but I can't guarantee anything." Alan replied softly.

"If you'd like, I'll talk to Onaha, see if she'd be willing to allow you to graze between meal times just so we can get the weight put back on." Virgil said softly, not wanting to tear the proverbial Band-Aid off the still healing wound. At Alan's nearly imperceptible nod, Virgil smiled before pulling Alan into a hug. "Thank you Alan…now what do you say we get you dressed and I'll see if I can't charm a chocolate caramel lava cupcake from Onaha for you?"

"Okay." Alan replied, not wishing to speak any louder than a whisper as he felt his slight appetite fall into his gut heavily like a stone.

… … … … … …

Alan was sat on the couch in the lounge, staring out past Virgil's piano at the ocean. He felt empty and his heart felt forever broken. He hadn't had the ability to even talk to Tin-Tin since their fight and he'd still not received an apology from someone he assumed was now his ex-girlfriend. They literally hadn't talked in a little more than a month, not since that horrendous argument. Not being on speaking terms made being in a relationship a little difficult.

What was not expected was to have the smell of rich dark chocolate and warm caramel wafted beneath his nose and he looked down to see an olive complexion hand attached to a plate holding one fork and two dark chocolate caramel cupcakes. Following the hand that held the plate up, Alan watched as the body attached to the arm materialized into none other than Tin-Tin.

"Tin-Tin?" Alan asked with an astonished gasp.

"Hi Alan." Tin-Tin replied sounding for the entire world like a little girl instead of a teenage girl. "Want to split a couple of cupcakes?"

Alan gawked at Tin-Tin, amazed that she was even speaking to him, but his mouth closed and he turned his head away from her. His feelings were still hurt over their argument and it'd take a little more than chocolate, caramel lava cupcakes to fix it. Standing slowly, Alan glided across the lounge to stand in front of the window, his arms crossed over his chest protectively.

"What do you want Tin-Tin?" Alan asked, his voice empty of all emotion.

"I wanted to…apologize. I jumped to conclusions and didn't stop to think that maybe my mom asked for your constructive criticism on her cooking so she could improve." Tin-Tin replied.

"So…what?" Alan asked, not bothering to turn around. He didn't need to see Tin-Tin to know she was grasping at straws when it came to apologizing to him.

"I know I don't deserve your forgiveness, but please accept my apology when it comes to you finding out how bad I feel over having hurt you so bad. It was never my intention to cause you such pain and I am deeply sorry for what I've done." Tin-Tin said, eyes not wavering as she gazed at the back of Alan's head. "I still love you Alan and it pains me more than you could ever know, the pain I caused you because of my heartless words."

Alan who still stood with his back to Tin-Tin, felt his walls crumbling. Not only did those cupcakes smell damn good, but hearing Tin-Tin's apology repaired what damage was done to his heart initially. Sure his heart still felt broken, but hopefully it'd gradually get better.

"I'll make it up to you Alan, anything you want just name it." Tin-Tin said as she tried to think of another way for Alan to forgive her. Even if it meant that she had to walk around in an energizer bunny costume for a week while eating carrots…she'd do it. Anything to make Alan forgive her and let them move on and forget. "Name your price."


	10. Time

_**AN: Just as a heads up, I've posted the poll on my account for how I should liven up Never Look Back - Belonging. Hope ya'll are enjoying the story thus far and hopefully ya'll continue to enjoy it.**_

_**Thanks team awesome!**_

**_~Angel~_**

* * *

Time, that's all Alan asked for. When Tin-Tin told him to name his price, all Alan asked for was time. Time to heal, time to cope, time to decide where they stood in their relationship. The look on Tin-Tin's face said it all to Alan. He'd practically ripped her heart out and stomped on it to her face, just as much as she had done to him when he'd asked for time, before he left the lounge to retire to his bedroom. As haunting as it was to listen to, Tin-Tin would sit outside on the patio at night and she'd listen to the rare instrument that Alan knew how to play.

For Virgil, his instrument of choice was his piano, but he could play guitar and cello as well. For Alan though, his chosen instrument was the flute. Sure he'd been put in music lessons by his grandmother when he lived in Kansas and knew also how to play the violin, but his chosen instrument, his given talent allowed him to play the flute and God was it beautiful, haunting and heartbreaking all rolled into one?

"Tin-Tin, what are you still doing up?" Tin-Tin turned to see her possible ex-boyfriend's older brother John. It was a rare visit from the space monitor, a rare visit indeed. Their father had an itching to return to space and when the idea was mentioned to John, the space monitor jumped at the chance to return to the island and see his brothers whom he deeply missed.

"Oh, hi…John." Tin-Tin said, before returning her attention to the music floating down from the window of Alan's bedroom which she sat beneath. The song which played was beautiful and mysterious.

"Why aren't you in bed?" John asked before he sat beside Tin-Tin, taking note that where she sat you could hear the flute lilting rhythmically from Alan's bedroom. Turning to look up, John could see that Alan had his French door open onto his balcony and his bedroom was lit dimly from inside. "Listening to Alan play, huh?"

"I don't know what to do anymore John. He won't even talk to me anymore." Tin-Tin whispered, her voice wavering dangerously as she listened to the song Alan had been playing switch to something completely different. He was playing their song. It may seem cheap and corny, but Alan was playing the ending theme to Titanic, a song he'd dubbed as their song.

"Give him time honey, he's still hurt by your guy's argument. He'll come around." John said as he noticed Tin-Tin's eyes shining with tears at the change in song. Giving the girl he looked at as a younger sister a side hug, John returned to the inside of the villa. He wanted to talk to Tin-Tin, and since she didn't seem too keen on talking; John was going to go and try his luck with his little brother.

… … … … … …

John made his way upstairs and gently knocked on Alan's bedroom door. The harmony of another song floated out of Alan's room and John knew Alan was lost in his music. Opening the door gently, John leaned against the door frame and just watched his little brother.

Alan stood with his back to the door, his music stand in front of him as he appeared to be reading the notes of the paper. Alan's back was straight, his arms held up as he played his flute. John marveled at Alan's ability to not only hold his breathe and keep the notes flowing seamlessly, but just at the ability to play such a beautiful song. John and his brothers respected Alan's need for space most of the time when they overheard him playing his flute. But when the time called for it, such as now; John and each of his brothers would talk to Alan when it became apparent that he was playing enough to keep himself distracted.

When the song Alan played was over the room became silent and eerily so.

"What do you want John?" Alan asked without turning around before flipping the page on his music stand. He bent over to grab the bottle of water by his foot before taking a drink. When he'd had his fill of water, Alan placed his water bottle back down by his foot and raised his flute back to his lips. "I'm busy."

John didn't say anything as Alan began playing another song, this one incredibly familiar to John as it was one of the songs that each of the brothers liked from the Lord of The Rings movie. "'In Dreams' is where you are happy anymore isn't it Alan?"

Alan ignored John in favor of playing the song 'In Dreams' from the Lord of the Rings. John shook his head silently before walking into Alan's bedroom and closing his French doors. Striding over to Alan, John took note that Alan wasn't even looking at the sheet music, he'd played the song enough to know it by heart.

"When are you going to talk to her again Al? I know you're still miserable, you can deny it all you want…but I know the truth and so do the others." John said, noticing Alan furrowed his eyebrows in concentration as he continued playing the flute. Alan kept his eyes closed, but turned his body just enough so that his back was to John while he continued playing the agonizingly sad song, or so John thought.

Seeing that he wasn't going to get through to Alan any time soon, John left Alan's bedroom, shutting the door softly before going into the observatory above the library. He was trying to find a way to basically make Alan and Tin-Tin make up. Both teens had been solemn, Alan only just barely eating enough to sustain his malnourished state and Tin-Tin falling into an almost morose state and not being her usual bubbly self. To be honest it had everybody worried and they all wanted Alan and Tin-Tin to kiss and make up or get over each other and move on.

… … … … … …

Alan only stopped playing the flute when he could no longer keep his mouth from drying out while playing, despite drinking a bunch of water. Putting his flute up for the night, Alan grabbed his pajamas and went into his bathroom to prepare for bed. When he'd gotten finished with his nightly routine, Alan crept from his bathroom, before crawling beneath his sheets and retiring to sleep.

The following morning when he woke up, it was only to bury his head beneath his pillows as he heard the tell tales signs of Gordon playing a prank on one of his older brothers. It was too damn early for this. Hearing a male scream that sounded suspiciously like a Wilhelm scream, Alan surfaced from his bed to go look outside on his balcony to see what all the racket was.

Scott was treading water in the pool, his hair canary yellow with black tips visible even from Alan's vantage point on his balcony. What nearly made Alan double over with laughter though was that Scott's face had goofy clownish make up on. He had blue triangles painted beneath his eyes to resemble tears and overly bright red circles painted on the apples of his cheeks.

"Gordon! I am gonna kill you!" Scott yelled from the pool before noticing his baby brother up on his balcony clutching at his stomach while laughing. "Laugh it up yuk boy!"

If Alan wasn't laughing before, he was laughing now and boy did it feel good to laugh again. He hadn't had a proper laugh in what felt like ages.

A knock sounding against his bedroom door made Alan look in to see Virgil standing in the doorway. Alan quit laughing and ventured into his bedroom to see what Virge wanted from him.

"Hey, what's up?" Alan asked as he shuffled forward.

"I just wanted to check on you. Mind coming down for a bit to listen to one of my newest songs I've written?" Virgil asked before gesturing at Alan's flute. "Bring that with too please."


	11. Kiss & Make Up

Alan followed Virgil into the lounge. The elder brother sat at his piano, gesturing at Alan to stand beside him to look at the sheet music Virgil wrote. Alan looked over the sheet music and nodding to himself as he read it. The music looked doable.

"Just sit tight for a minute, I'm going to play for a few moments and then you and I can play what I've written." Virgil said as he flexed his fingers before playing one of his own personally written songs. Alan tilted his head in question before shaking his head. Alan sat on the bench beside Virgil. He felt his brother's muscles bunch as he moved his arms to meet the keys on the grand piano. "I hope you like the song I've written. I was listening to your playing last night and the song just came to me."

"I didn't keep you up did I?" Alan asked as he looked off out the window at the waves crashing against one of the large boulders close to his cove.

"No actually. It put me to sleep. I was lying in bed last night and I don't know…listening to your flute music last night. It awakened something in me and the music started flowing and I had to get it down on paper while it was still fresh in my mind."

Alan blushed at the compliment to his flute playing. He didn't see it as much, it was a hobby he'd picked up all on his own. Like Virgil with his piano playing, Alan had a desire to learn to play the flute and he'd saved his allowance to purchase his own when he was ten. After his purchase, he'd purposely practice when he was away at boarding school. He didn't want his family to tease him about learning to play the flute and making their ears bleed before one day he'd come home…flute case in hand.

He recalled that he'd been having a bad day; he'd been chewed out by his father and sent to his room without dinner. That was when he'd decided that to distract his thoughts from his empty stomach, he'd practice playing the flute.

"Do you remember, when you all found out about my flute playing?" Alan asked in bemusement.

Virgil continued playing the piano as he nodded.

"Yeah, we were all having dinner on the lanai…and Tin-Tin asked me if I'd left my i-pod playing up in my bedroom." Virgil replied, wincing at the mention of Tin-Tin.

"I can remember how shocked I was to turn around to see you and the guys peeking into my bedroom after you'd discovered the music was coming from my room." Alan said with a grin.

"I know dad wasn't expecting to discover you playing the flute." Virgil said as he continued playing the piano. "Are you ready to begin playing?"

Alan checked his flute to make sure that it was put together properly, he'd stayed up a little before bed to clean it and wanted to make sure it was assembled correctly. After setting up his flute, Alan tested his wind instrument to make sure it sounded okay before standing up to stand behind Virgil, looking over his shoulder at the sheet music Virgil had written for the both of them to use.

Virgil began with an almost inaudible pinging of the keys, but picked up in crescendo. Alan followed along before he too joined in, fingers flying effortlessly over the finger-holes. Getting a feel for the music, Alan was unaware that he and Virgil had obtained an audience. When the music was over, Alan felt all eyes on him as he noticed Virgil had stopped playing at some point and had turned around to watch him play. Glancing behind him, he saw each of his brothers and the one person whom he longed to make up with, but feared a similar argument may happen again in the future. Still holding his flute at the ready, Alan was shocked when Virgil swapped places with him, and taking the initiative to usher each of their brothers from the room; leaving just him and Tin-Tin alone.

… … … … … …

Alan licked his lips nervously as he found his mouth going dry instantly. He couldn't control how each time Tin-Tin looking at him made him feel weak in the knees, mouth dry, sweating palms, and racing heart. It didn't matter that his heart still felt cracked and chipped in places. It'd been almost a month and a half since he and Tin-Tin argued, and Alan took a step back from their relationship.

"That was a beautiful song you played Alan." Tin-Tin said softly.

"It wasn't…I was just following the music Virgil had written down." Alan mumbled. He didn't know if he could take hearing compliments for his flute playing from the girl that had stolen his heart and had kept it locked in a cage somewhere in her room.

"I hate to tell you, but it wasn't. Didn't you hear Virgil?" Tin-Tin asked as she took a couple steps forward, sitting beside Alan on the piano bench.

"No." Alan admitted. He was embarrassed to say that he often didn't hear anything except the flow of the music when he played the flute. That was how much he enjoyed playing.

"Virgil said you strayed from the sheet music. That's why he quit playing. He couldn't follow along." Tin-Tin said with a soft smile. "But I recognize the song you were playing."

"Oh?" Alan found his mouth going dry again.

"Yeah…you were playing the song of your heart." Tin-Tin said as she gestured at Alan to pick up the flute again and continue playing.

"What makes you say that?" Alan asked with a fair blush spreading across his face.

"Because it was sad." Tin-Tin said softly. "And it broke my heart hearing you play."

Alan didn't say anything, choosing instead to remain quiet.

"Alan, I don't know how many ways I can apologize. What I said back during our argument was wrong. It's was worse than wrong and I couldn't believe I'd said it the moment it passed my lips. You have no idea the remorse I felt watching you run from the room, into the raining night just to get away from me. I don't blame you and in fact I hate myself for saying such hurtful things to you. I'm supposed to love you, not tear you down the moment something makes me mad." Tin-Tin whispered as she took hold of one of Alan's hands. "I don't blame you if you never want to date me again, but I hope you'll accept my apology and that we can be friends again. It's lonely around here without you to talk to."

Alan looked down at his and Tin-Tin's hands before carefully intertwining their fingers together. Looking back up to meet her eyes, Alan saw the remorse was still fresh and he knew then that her apology had been genuine. Not able to find any lie in what she said, Alan opened his arms and pulled Tin-Tin into a hug. She settled her head on his chest and listened to the fast paced pitter patter of his heart. Alan reached around and tipped her head up to meet his by lifting her chin with his index finger. When she was finally looking up at him, he leaned down and the both of them closed their eyes in tandem before their lips met in a heartfelt kiss.

* * *

_**AN: I hope the ending to this chapter wasn't too cheesy. I felt like making it something tender, with Alan getting lost in the music of his flute playing and Tin-Tin being the one to recognize the song of his heart.**_

_**Thanks to those of you that comment on this and my other stories. Hope you all are enjoying them.**_

_**~Angel~**_


	12. Chores

Alan peeked out from beneath the light blanket that had been draped over him and Tin-Tin after they fell asleep in the sun lounger by the pool and was quick to shield his eyes from the bright morning light. Ducking back under the blanket, Alan waited to let his eyes adjust gradually and he grinned boyishly when he felt more than saw Tin-Tin shift her head where she was resting on his midsection. He moved one of his legs and hissed.

Bad idea. Note to self, never try to move your leg no matter how numb it feels.

Hearing a grumble from beneath the blanket, Alan lifted said blanket to peer at the person who had mistook him for a pillow the night previous and he leaned down to kiss the tip of her nose. Tin-Tin stirred from her slumber and grinned up at Alan.

"Morning babe." Alan whispered.

"G'Mornin Al." Tin-Tin mumbled before she stretched languidly, causing Alan to wince and hiss. "What's wrong?"

"My leg is asleep." Alan replied as he felt the blood rushing back into his extremities. Tin-Tin sat up, taking the blanket with her and she stretched again before looking around.

"Did they ever come home?" Tin-Tin asked as she gazed around languidly at the poolside.

"No, I think they're still on that rescue." Alan replied as he felt it safe to stretch. His leg felt awake this time and he was thankful for that. "Otherwise I think we might have felt the Earth shake from Thunderbird One reentering her home."

"True. So then who covered us last night?" Tin-Tin asked as she looked at the blanket that had been draped over Alan and Tin-Tin the night previous.

A cough from the doorway made both teens look up to see Brains, holding a mug of coffee in hand as he leaned casually against the door frame.

"Did you…?" Alan started to ask until he was silenced by a hand from Brains.

"You s-should uh probably w-want to uh thank Fermat. He t-thought it was uh a little cold last n-night and didn't wish to see you two g-g-catch cold." Brains said before taking a sip from his coffee.

"Where is everybody?" Alan asked as he took notice of the perpetual silence which he found unnerving.

"Still on t-the uh rescue. Looks l-like a uh doozy. Oil rig f-fire off the c-coast of uh Texas." Brains replied. "Y-Your uh father left a uh c-chore list for you to complete before h-he gets back A-Alan."

Alan sighed. Was it his fault that Gordon somehow managed to catch a rat and hide it in his dresser? So what if he threatened to kill Gordon? The red head deserved it; instead Alan was the one to get grounded. Okay, sure maybe he shouldn't have screamed like a little girl at two in the morning when the rat catapulted itself out of his dresser at him, but what else was he supposed to do when he got a face full of fur and mouth full of gross scaly rat's tail?

"I'll help you with the chores Alan. Then maybe your dad will lift the sentence." Tin-Tin said quietly. She knew Brains wouldn't rat her out if he had heard her, because honestly he and Fermat both felt Alan shouldn't have been grounded for being frightened by a rat leaping out of his dresser. But neither the scientist nor the scientist's son was going to question Jeff's parenting, so they kept quiet.

"Thanks Tin." Alan whispered back to Tin-Tin before standing slowly. Once he was stood up, Alan helped Tin-Tin up. The both of them entered the kitchen, snagging a bagel and cream cheese each before grabbing the chore list left on the counter for Alan to complete that afternoon.

Venturing out onto the patio, Alan retrieved the broom from Kyrano's little tool shed and began to sweep the sand, and palm fronds from the deck. Tin-Tin on the other hand grabbed the pool net and began cleaning the bits of plant detritus that had fallen into the pool after the storm they'd had a few nights ago. As the two of them worked their way through the list, they found the item in order of urgency to be placed in a numbered list. Alan and Tin-Tin worked their way through the list until they completed the last item. A quick glance at their watches told them they'd completed the tasks in a timely fashion. A quick stop by the office told Alan and Tin-Tin that due to the need to monitor the oil rig fire, his dad and brothers would be longer than expected.

According to Brains, the family of Thunderbirds was all quite tired and had taken to sleeping in shifts. It was rather unfortunate for Alan though. As far as he knew he wasn't permitted to play video games or watch TV when grounded, he and Gordon had made plans to have a movie marathon.

"So, did dad say what he wanted me to do after completing the list of chores he had laid out for me?" Alan asked as he leaned his hip against the control panel where Brains was sitting, Fermat by his side. He was instructing his son how some of the knobs and buttons worked a little more in depth since Brains had recently updated the motherboard. Some of the new buttons allowed for someone behind the control panel to redirect the Thunderbird crafts if they strayed off course or were in the line of danger.

"He uh just i-instructed me to uh r-remind you to stay o-out of trouble." Brains offered as he smiled at the boy that was pretty much his godson. He'd only just met Jeff in passing when Alan was due to be born, but they hadn't really begun working together until Fermat was due to be born and Alan was two. "I t-talked with uh your f-fa-dad and he agreed t-that maybe he s-should lessen your uh sentence."

"What made him change his mind?" Alan asked.

"S-Scott reminded y-your father that s-screaming in fright w-when a mouse leaps from a place you w-weren't expecting is o-only natural." Brains smiled wryly at that sentence. It was no secret that Scott was terrified of mice and any other rodent like creatures. If a mouse ran by him, Scott was up on top of the furniture until either it was killed or caught and even then if he so much as saw a shadow move, he'd flinch or cringe. Sometimes, things that happen to you when you're a little kid on the playground has the potential to scar you and that scar still can linger into adulthood.

"Scott rules." Alan replied with a sigh.

"He does, so what do you want to do now?" Tin-Tin asked as she took Alan's hand.

"Hmm, what do you want to do?" Alan asked as Tin-Tin dragged him from the office.

"I've got something in mind." Tin-Tin replied with a voice dripping with sugar.

* * *

**_AN: So here is another installment of The Miserable. I'll admit, having a bunch of homework piled on and clinicals hanging over my head have kept me too tired from writing. I did change the rating to this story from K+ to M just because I felt like having Alan and Tin-Tin take a step further in their relationship in the next two chapters or so. While I didn't describe anything, because honestly I suck at writing anything over PG or 13 +, I just don't know where to start when it comes to writing something more risque. So I'll allude to it but nothing anything further than vague descriptions for those that aren't interested in smut. I do not write smut well so don't ask me to be more descriptive, it's more awkward than is within my comfort zone. However, I will just say, one of the later chapters is less Alan and Tin-Tin than it is Alan and Jeff having a more intense discussion about Alan and Tin-Tin. Consider this a warning for later chapters._**

**_~Angel~_**


	13. Risque

_**AN - So to those that are reading, this chapter contains references, but nothing overly sexual...really. I allude to it and may put some things they do but it is nothing heavy or inappropriate because let's be honest, I can't write anything risque, I've tried; it just shows my inexperience in the whole writing sexual experiences. If anything I sound like a twelve year old trying to act like an adult and that's just not right so I won't subject you to that kind of torture. Hope to see some reviews, they make me smile! Just consider this fair warning because the next chapter and the chapter after that I will post in the next couple of days go with this chapter.**_

_**~Angel~**_

* * *

"Tin-Tin do I have to?" Alan asked aloud as he stood behind the changing screen in Tin-Tin's bedroom.

"Yes, if you want those alterations done, then you are going to need to come out so I can take measurements." Tin-Tin replied as she knelt before a large wooden box that she borrowed from her father.

"I just feel foolish in what I'm wearing." Alan replied with a childlike pout to his voice. He tensed up when the changing screen was pushed open. He bit his lip as his face lit up bright red when his girlfriend smiled at him. He felt foolish wearing what he was and he wished to any and all deities listening that Lady Penelope hadn't chosen him as her escort for the wedding she was required to attend. And why may you ask that he felt foolish in what he was wearing if it was for a wedding?

Simply put, someone who is not of Scottish descent or was used to the dress code for most weddings usually felt foolish wearing a kilt. That was why Alan was asking anybody who was listening in the heavens just why exactly he of all people was chosen by Lady Penelope to walk her down the aisle as an escort. It's not like she was the bride that needed to be given away, she was a maid of honor and when Lady Penelope refused to walk with any of the young men that were willing, the bride and groom, two people that are longtime friends of hers asked her to pick someone she deemed suitable to escort her and she'd chosen Alan. And that horrified Alan beyond belief when he learned that he'd be wearing a kilt like all the other grooms men.

His own family was invited, but they were not required to wear a kilt like Alan and the grooms men were.

"Please shoot me now." Alan asked as he eyed Tin-Tin's bedroom door, thankful that Tin-Tin's parents gave her permission to close her bedroom door if he was inside. Tin-Tin was gracious enough to preserve Alan's modesty and dignity and she'd locked her bedroom door to prevent any of Alan's brothers from entering while she was altering Alan's kilt.

"Oh hush Alan. It's not so bad. You'll just get to experience what it's like for girls when they wear skirts." Tin-Tin replied before placing a couple of pins in her mouth, holding them for easy access with her lips.

"But I don't want to. Why can't I just wear plaid board shorts? Why does it have to be a kilt?" Alan whined.

"Because that's what the bride and groom set up as the dress code. The groom is also wearing a kilt." Tin-Tin reassured. She didn't think Alan looked bad in the kilt. She thought it made him look hot. "Quit whining, you'll have fun once you get there. And honestly I don't think you look that bad. If anything I think you look sexy in a kilt."

Alan's face brightened once more and soon both Alan and Tin-Tin both were blushing a deep red. Alan because he was embarrassed wearing a kilt and Tin-Tin because of what she'd admitted to Alan. Neither teen could look at the other for several minutes before Tin-Tin cleared her throat and tried to change the subject as she leaned in close to begin mending the kilt, trying to make it the knee length required instead of calf length like it was on Alan currently.

"I can't wait until this whole ridiculous wedding is over." Alan pouted once more, before flinching when he felt a sharp stick in his lower leg. "Hey! Watch it! Those pins hurt!"

"Quit whining Alan, this is supposed to be fun. I would give anything to be part of the wedding. I've had to babysit the groom's niece before and he knows that I've talked dresses and everything décor with his fiancé. You're lucky to be a part of the wedding. They are a very influential family and the chances of you being part of a wedding of this caliber are astronomical. You are somebody, me? I'm just the servant's daughter." Tin-Tin replied before going quiet. Alan stilled as he heard what Tin-Tin just called herself and he tipped her head up with the tip of his finger when she bowed her head.

"Please, don't call yourself that. Kyrano and your mom, they aren't my family's servants. Neither are you. You three are family, just like Fermat and Brains. Who cares if we aren't all related by blood, we're still one large family and honestly I wouldn't mind wearing a kilt and looking like a freaking pansy if you were there beside me to make it bearable." Alan said softly before cupping Tin-Tin's face and kissing her tenderly.

Tin-Tin deepened the kiss when Alan knelt down on the box so he was closer to her and they only stopped when Alan tensed up. Tin-Tin pulled away, fearing that Alan was going to refuse her advances when Alan began muttering under his breath about pins and how much they hurt. She giggled at her boyfriend before she nuzzled Alan. Leaning up, she whispered in his ear; making Alan blush brightly. He pulled away to look into her eyes.

"Are you sure? We don't have to." Alan looked at her seriously. He knew the ramifications that were there if he and Tin-Tin continued down the road they were going. But damn it, the both of them were teenagers that were already having a hard time controlling their hormones. They were fifteen and honestly, they weren't getting any younger…or patient.

"Alan, the door is locked. I am protected and I couldn't be surer." Tin-Tin said as she smirked at Alan. "And honestly, seeing you in that kilt is sexier than seeing you in your boxers that one time that day my uncle attacked us all. Yes, I am positive that I want to do this and I want to do it with you…nobody else."

"What if we get caught?" Alan replied nervously, eyes darting over to the door he knew was locked.

"My parents know how long it takes to do measurements and I told them I'd be fine. What they don't know won't hurt them." Tin-Tin replied mischievously. "Besides, I was anticipating we'd be doing this and I kind of bought some things for added protection the last time I needed to go shopping."

Tin-Tin went over to her closet and bent over, enticing Alan. When she turned around, she placed a box in Alan's hand and a bottle in his other hand. Alan licked his lips nervously before nodding at his girlfriend.

"Do you think they'll work Alan?" Tin-Tin asked nervously, hoping she judged right when making her purchase.

"I have no doubts they will." Alan replied softly, feeling the seriousness hit him. They were doing this…like really doing this. "So how do we do this?"

Tin-Tin gave Alan a look before standing on her tip toes to initiate a kiss. Alan deepened the kiss, feeling Tin-Tin running her hands across his back and chest. He felt his heart beginning to race and he placed his hands on Tin-Tin's waist, pulling her with him back towards her bed. Sinking down onto the bed, Alan visibly winced when the pins that Tin-Tin had stuck in the kilt poked him again.

"Why don't we take this off for now? It'll make things a little more comfortable." Tin-Tin said before reaching behind Alan and unzipping the kilt to let it slide off and pool on the floor. Continuing their heated kissing, both Alan and Tin-Tin soon found their clothes leaving gradually and before long both Alan and Tin-Tin were laying beneath her blankets, staring at each other. Their pupils were blown wide and both had a light sheen of sweat coating their bodies.

"Are you sure you want to do this Tin-Tin? I can stop before we continue any further if you aren't comfortable." Alan replied, honestly hoping Tin-Tin wouldn't say stop. He felt himself getting too hot and bothered and he didn't know how he'd feel with Tin-Tin enticing him as much as she had only to say no and force him to take care of his problem.

"I'm sure Alan. Please, just do it." Tin-Tin said as she looked up at her boyfriend where he was hovering above her. Alan looked down at the box that sat beside them on the bed before resting more on his left arm to grab the box with his right. Opening the box, Alan retrieved one of the packages before tearing it open. Rolling off and away from Tin-Tin, Alan gestured at her to turn away from him for a moment. He'd never put one of these on before and he didn't think her laughing at him would help him to continue with what they were doing. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah, let's do this." Alan said before he returned to hovering over Tin-Tin. Resting on his forearms, Alan kissed Tin-Tin.


	14. Caught In The Act

"Irresponsible is what this is! I thought I raised you better than this Alan!" Jeff yelled as he stood behind his desk, a disapproving look on his face as he stared down at his son. He'd been unfortunate enough to walk in on Alan and Tin-Tin during one of their little escapades and he'd quickly put a stop to it. "I thought I raised you to know that you are to remain a virgin until marriage. What would your mother say? Do you think she'd be proud to know that her youngest son, her baby was partaking in being so promiscuous? Having sex outside of marriage?"

"Dad, it's not like that! I love her! You never told me to wait until marriage, you only said I'd know when! I am positive that Tin-Tin is the one I'm going to marry so why not?!" Alan argued back.

"Because not waiting is how teen pregnancy happens! Not waiting ensures that you and Tin-Tin are playing with fire and that is a dangerous game to be playing! Neither of you are ready to be parents, you're not even out of high school yet." Jeff rounded the table and placed his hands on the arms of the chair, guaranteeing that Alan couldn't bolt from the room even if he wanted to. He'd been caught red handed in the middle of having sex with his girlfriend; the fact that he could hear Alan and Tin-Tin from the hallway told Jeff that anybody could have heard them. "I have half a mind to send you to stay with Lady Penelope until the start of the new term if it means you and Tin-Tin can't continue with this thing you've got going on. I'm not ready to become a grandfather yet Alan, especially not being made a grandpa by my fifteen year old."

"Dad! We're being safe! I'm using condoms, she's on birth control and we're using contraceptives, nothing is going to happen!" Alan argued, angry that he hadn't been able to finish what he and Tin-Tin had been doing. He was almost there, almost until his father opened the door that Alan would swear he'd locked and demanded Alan and Tin-Tin stop what they were doing and get dressed. It was hard to finish after having the moment ruined for them both.

"Alan, that's exactly how your mother and I were faced with having five boys. I used condoms each time your mother and I had sex and she was on the birth control shot. We were both trying to be safe also and then your mother told me she was pregnant with Scott. We'd planned John and Virgil afterwards but you and Gordon were the exact same as Scott. We'd used condoms, birth control, and the whole nine yards and then we found out your mother was pregnant again with you five years after we'd swore off having any more children."

Alan tensed up. It was a sore subject for Alan over the years. He constantly questioned whether or not he was a mistake judging on the fact that he was five years younger than his next oldest brother.

"Alan, I just don't want to see you being faced with becoming a father before you are ready. How do you plan to support yourself, Tin-Tin and a baby should a condom break or her birth control fail? You don't have a job and the money in your trust fund I set up before your birth can't be accessed until you are 18. So tell me how you would support your girlfriend and child should you get her pregnant?"

"Dad, I swear to you that we are being safe. Tin-Tin and I made the decision together to start having sex. I didn't pressure her and she didn't pressure me. We both made the decision to start this. We both knew what we were getting ourselves into by doing this. I've been saving my allowance and she's been doing the same, that and her baby sitting money. We've got a small nest egg to hold us in the event that she gets pregnant but I can assure you she won't. Like I said, I'm using condoms, she's using birth control and contraceptives and this you may not want to know but I'll tell you anyway…I pull out before I'm done. I am doing everything I can to prevent getting Tin-Tin pregnant just like she's doing everything she can with using birth control and spermicide. We are being safe. And we have been right from the off. The first time we did it, she was on birth control and I was using condoms."

"How long have you two been having intercourse?" Jeff asked, not really wanting to know but hoping this might have been maybe the second time they'd done it.

"A couple months." Alan admitted, his face heating with a blush at admitting to his father how long he'd been sexually active.

"Alan…we haven't even had the talk yet." Jeff said as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"You don't have to. I got the talk from my health teacher, Virgil, Brains and Kyrano…I know what I'm doing and dad I know the risk I am taking. We're just fooling around." Alan replied softly, suddenly feeling the weight of the shame his dad's disappointment caused. Honestly, he knew better. But he had raging hormones that he was unable to control on a good day and having sex with his very willing girlfriend helped control those urges. And it's not like they screwed like rabbits, they only did every so often. Sure they'd been sexually active for a few months but they didn't do it every day or every time they saw each other. They only did it when they both felt like they needed it and then it was either in Tin-Tin's bedroom or Alan's. They never took it anywhere else.

"I'm very disappointed in you Alan. I thought I'd taught you better than this." Jeff said, before stepping away from Alan. With a flippant wave of the hand, Alan was dismissed. "I want you to go to your room, you are grounded and I am forbidding you from seeing Tin-Tin again. I will be talking with her father and mother over this matter. One of your brothers will be up to get you at dinner time."

… … … … … …

Later that evening, Alan was escorted down to the dinner table by Scott. His head was bowed in embarrassment much as Tin-Tin's was. Kyrano and Onaha sent disapproving looks at Alan and that made Alan feel about as tall as a speck of dust. Sitting between Scott and his dad, Alan chanced a glance up to meet Tin-Tin's sorrowful eyes. She mouthed quickly to him when everybody began eating.

'_I'm sorry.'_

Alan mouthed back to her before redirecting his gaze back to his plate at a sharp look from both his father and Tin-Tin's father.

'_No, it's my bad._'

Each of Alan's brothers that sat at the table that night hadn't missed Alan and Tin-Tin's apologetic looks to the other and they were all well aware of what Alan and Tin-Tin had been caught doing. And while they were mad that the two teens were being as risky as they were, they couldn't blame them. Honestly they couldn't. One could only control their hormones for so long before they needed a release of some kind whether that be fooling around with a willing participant or taking care of the matter yourself.


	15. Don't Let Me Down

A few weeks later, Alan was released from his grounding…but was not permitted to see Tin-Tin. He was feeling the weeks of being kept from Tin-Tin building. He needed to see Tin-Tin before he exploded and it wasn't just because he wanted to caress her silky smooth skin or kiss her luscious lips, no he just wanted to see her. This was the longest that he'd been kept from her since their argument a few months back. Each time Alan came around and Tin-Tin was near, either her mother or father hovered annoyingly close. Alan was to a point where he wanted to rip his hair out. He had to see Tin-Tin again before he went crazy.

"Alan, can you take this out to the scrap pile?" Virgil asked as he placed a large crate of junk in Alan's arms. "It's just gathering dust in my workshop and neither Brains, Scott or dad want it so it's off to the scrap pile."

"Why can't you take it yourself?" Alan asked sharply. He wasn't in the greatest of moods. He'd received a nasty look from Onaha, before she clucked at him and chased him from her kitchen and effectively away from Tin-Tin.

About that moment the klaxon sounded and Virgil dropped what he was doing.

"I've got places to go and people to save!" Virgil called as he sprinted from his office, around Alan and up the stairs to reach their dad's office. Alan mocked Virgil under his breath before lugging the large crate up the stairs to take to the designated scrap pile. As he walked, he noticed as Thunderbird One and Two launches, and longed not for the first time that he could join his father and brothers on this rescue. Anything to keep him away from the island and pining over Tin-Tin.

"Hey, do you need a hand?" Alan's head whipped around to meet with his still stunning girlfriend. Tin-Tin stood, wearing her usual tankini and cut off shorts. "Gordon asked me if I'd bring this box to the scrap pile before he and the others were deployed on the mission."

Alan looked at the box that Tin-Tin carried and at the box that he carried before he put two and two together and he groaned.

"They are going to get us in trouble." Alan said before beginning to walk down the long stone footpath before cutting through the jungle to reach the trail that lead to the scrap pile. "I wonder if they know we're forbidden to see each other."

"Oh I'm sure they know." Tin-Tin said after a few moments of comfortable silence. Alan tilted his head to the side in question but didn't ask. He'd assumed Tin-Tin would explain her meaning before long. After a long thirty minute walk, both Alan and Tin-Tin found themselves at the scrap pile.

Not being able to contain the question, Alan inquired about Tin-Tin's meaning when he opened the box and blanched at the contents of one of the boxes. Closing the box, Alan flushed a bright red before looking at Tin-Tin to see her face was equally as red.

"They're trying to kill us." Alan replied before opening the crate Virgil had given him and retrieving the box of condoms that his dad had confiscated and given to Virgil for safe keeping. When he opened the box, a letter had fallen out and Alan hesitated in opening it. He looked at Tin-Tin to see she was holding her little box of contraceptives and she had a soft smile on her face. Alan looked at the contents of the box before unfolding the letter and reading it quietly to himself. It was written in Virgil's neat handwriting.

'_Alan, Tin-Tin_

_ Here is the box of condoms and contraceptives that our dads had given to me to keep in my locked cabinet. I trust you two to be smart when using these. Don't be stupid and I know that I could be getting you two in trouble, but just…be safe. I'd rather you two have these with you if you ever decide to get it on again. I know from experience that once someone gets the chance to fool around its hard not to do it again. I'd rather your two have these things with you as insurance rather than being stupid and trying to go without. I think you could potentially have repercussions without the added coverage and I trust you two to use the brains in your heads not your downstairs brains._

_I just have three requests, one being if you two ever screw around in your bedroom Alan, remember to be quiet. I don't like hearing you two going at it and I know that you two being noisy were what got you caught. Second, if you get caught again don't tell dad that I gave these back to you guys, I'd like to keep living thank you very much and if wind gets to dad and Kyrano that I gave these to you two I have no doubts that they'll kill me. Lastly, please don't make me an uncle. I trust that if you two need more, you'll at least ask me and I can order you some to come in with my medications that I supply to the Thunderbird crafts. And if I am unable to order them for whatever reason, I will go to the mainland to get you more because it's less suspicious if I run to the mainland to pick up stuff from a drugstore than for you or Tin-Tin to go._

_Please destroy my note after reading this and be safe. I trust you two, don't let me down.'_

_Virgil._

_PS, the boys know I was giving these back to you two and they will speak up on your behalf about the importance of safe sex should you two get caught again.'_

Alan folded the letter afterwards and heaved a sigh. Opening the box again, Alan discovered that the number of condoms that had been in the box were the same as when he and Tin-Tin got to do it and they were untouched. Smiling, Alan looked to Tin-Tin.

"Looks like I owe Virge big time." Alan said softly.

"We both owe him big time. I can't believe he's putting his neck out there like that." Tin-Tin replied equally as soft as she stared at the small box in her hands. Now she just felt guilty after being given the third degree by not just her mother; but both of her parents. She knew that no matter how much she and her boyfriend enjoyed having sex, they couldn't just begin doing it again. "We can't do this Alan. What would our parents think?"

"I know. My dad has already threatened to ship me off to stay with Lady P should I keep on." Alan said softly, realizing not for the first time how much he'd screwed up. He seriously could have gotten Tin-Tin pregnant and then what? She told him and he agreed that they could never do an abortion if he got her pregnant and he didn't think they would be strong enough to give a baby up for adoption. But they couldn't force their families to help them raise a kid they'd created because of being young and foolish. "I'm giving these back to Virgil when he gets back. If we have these, it's too much temptation to fool around in my opinion."

"Well, we can certainly try, but I doubt he'll take them back." Tin-Tin said, before pocketing the box.


	16. A Couple of Sickies

Soft sighs were heard in the night as Alan and Tin-Tin met in Alan's bedroom for another night time romp. They'd tried giving the condoms and contraceptives back to Virgil but the older brother adamantly refused the two little boxes, insisting that should the two teens feel the urge to have sex that they do it safely and utilize the required tools to prevent pregnancy. Quietly, Virgil told the two teens that he was aware of them fooling around on occasions before he'd given them the condoms and contraceptives back and he'd frowned on their being stupid and impulsive. The two teens bowed their heads in embarrassment and shame before Virgil smiled at them and told them it happened, but he'd prefer it if it didn't happen again.

It wasn't long after that that Alan and Tin-Tin figured out the better times that the two of them could get together and fool around without being interrupted.

Alan panted as he rested on his forearms. Letting his head fall forward, he relaxed his sweaty brow against Tin-Tin's shoulder. Nimble fingers fluffed his hair back from his face and when he lifted his head, Alan's brilliant blue eyes met with Tin-Tin's chocolate brown doe eyes.

"You were amazing Alan." Tin-Tin whispered before she kissed Alan deeply.

The kiss took Alan's breath away momentarily, but once his brain rewired itself; Alan returned the kiss but with equal emotion. Slowly Alan rolled off of Tin-Tin and he'd chuckled at her growl of frustration.

"I've got to change Tin, you know we can't use the same one. Virgil said…" Alan said as he prepared to remove the used condom.

"Can we please not talk about any of your brothers while we're doing this Al? Please? It really ruins the mood." Tin-Tin asked as she rolled over, pinning Alan to the bed. "Besides, I know of something else we can do that's equally as fun."

"What's that?" Alan asked as he ran his hands up and down Tin-Tin's curvy body. Despite them being only fifteen, Tin-Tin had a great set of…assets.

"How about a moonlit walk on the beach, just the two of us…alone?" Tin-Tin suggested, winking at Alan seductively. Alan bit his lip with an eye roll before he nodded at Tin-Tin's suggestion.

… … … … … …

Over the next couple of weeks, Alan and Tin-Tin both would meet in Alan's bedroom before they'd sneak out his bedroom window in order to avoid tripping the front door alarm. One of the times however that Tin-Tin had entered Alan's bedroom for their appointed meeting, she'd found Alan wasn't out of bed and ready to go at all. He was bundled tightly in his blankets and was sleeping restlessly.

Tin-Tin sat on Alan's bed, placing a cool hand on Alan's warm forehead. She frowned as she detected a fever burning her boyfriend's brow.

"Alan? Hey, is everything okay babe?" Tin-Tin asked softly as she kissed Alan's cheek which was equally as fevered as his forehead. "Not feeling too good?"

"No, I'm cold." Alan replied weakly as he gave a shiver.

"How can you be cold babe? You're hot." Tin-Tin said softly as she felt Alan's throat like she'd seen Virgil do to see if Alan's tonsils were swollen.

"That's what she said." Alan replied, giving a weak chuckle until he saw the look on Tin-Tin's face. "Sorry."

"What am I going to do with you?" Tin-Tin muttered before she covered Alan's eyes with a pillow. "I'm turning on your bedroom light."

"Kay." Alan mumbled as he snuggled in deeper to his blankets.

Tin-Tin turned to look at Alan, striding over to look at her boyfriend and try to determine whether or not she should go wake Virgil. Upon illuminating his bedroom, Tin-Tin could make out splotches of color on his cheeks, where he'd obviously been feeling the heat from the fever he was running. Placing a cool hand against Alan's brow, Tin-Tin frowned. To be honest she was also feeling a little under the weather, but she figured it had nothing to do with their little late night walks along the beach. They only ever stayed out for about a half hour…an hour tops.

Going back over to Alan's bed, Tin-Tin gently placed her hands on Alan's throat and feeling his tonsils. They felt swollen to her and she wondered what Alan could have caught, he was on summer break from school so it wasn't like he caught it from anyone directly. He wasn't even permitted to go on rescues yet. The closest he came to assisting with rescues was typing up the notes made by John on Thunderbird 5 or Scott from mobile command.

Slowly, Tin-Tin entered Alan's bathroom to grab some fever reducer from his medicine cabinet and a glass of water. When she'd returned, she told Alan to close his eyes and made him sit up before she gave him the pills and water. Once he'd taken the medicine, he gave a shiver and Tin-Tin grabbed a pullover hoodie for Alan to slip into. Once he was in the warm hoodie he shivered a little less and gave a yawn.

"I'm sorry, I ruined our date." Alan whispered, his throat was swollen and it hurt to talk.

"Don't be, to be honest I'm not feeling too great myself." Tin-Tin replied before she tucked the blankets around Alan. "Get some sleep and I hope you feel better in the morning."

"You too." Alan said as he accepted a kiss from Tin-Tin.

Tin-Tin stood in the doorway for a few moments before she turned out Alan's bedroom light and returned to her own bedroom. Now that she thought about it, she really felt poorly too. Going back to her bedroom, Tin-Tin rubbed her hands up and down her arms to warm her skin. She had gooseflesh popping up on her arms and could feel chills coursing up and down her spine. She knew when she was getting sick and how fast it usually hit her.

When she got sick, she'd be fine one minute and like a roller coaster ride reaching the summit, she'd be knocked out of the game suddenly. She entered her bedroom and immediately went to the thermostat and turned it up to 75 degrees. She crawled back into her pajamas, adding a cardigan, leggings and fuzzy socks to her ensemble to warm her up.

She quickly burrowed under her blankets and squirmed around until she was comfortable. Laying her head down, Tin-Tin gave a sniffle and a sneeze telling her that now she was officially sick. With what she didn't know but it seemed to hit hard and didn't want to show her any mercy.


	17. Double Trouble

"Hey Virge?" Gordon poked his head into the kitchen and looked timidly at his immediate older brother.

Virgil was sat at the table, nursing a cup of coffee and looking like he just woke up, which he probably did. The medic looked up when his name was called and motioned his brother to come closer. He wouldn't bite…much.

"What's up fish?" Virgil asked when his younger red headed brother came closer.

"Do you mind coming up to check on Alan? I went to wake him for breakfast, but he looks pretty sick." Gordon said as he thrust his thumb back behind him – gesturing that he'd just come from Alan's bedroom upstairs.

"Sick how?" Virgil asked as he straightened. It wasn't lost on him that Scott and John also straightened.

"Like he's running a pretty phenomenal fever. He looks like he just went swimming, but when I touched his shoulder I thought he was going to spontaneously combust and he's weak like a newborn fawn." Gordon said, before turning to go back upstairs. "I'm going to go sit with him, make sure he doesn't get any warmer."

"I'll be right up Gordo, just need to go get my med kit from my lab." Virgil said before he drained his coffee mug and stood up. "Right so sick little brother rescue."

"Is there anything we can do to help Virge?" Scott asked as he stood to refill his own coffee mug.

"I don't think so. You're more than welcome to go keep Gordo company, I doubt Alan's very scintillating company right now. You know how he can be when he's sick." Virgil said as he placed his used coffee mug in the kitchen sink. "I'll be right up."

"Okay." Scott said before he turned from the percolator to head upstairs with John hot on his heels. When Virgil was left alone he 'hmmphed' and headed down the stairs to retrieve his med kit. On his way back up Onaha stopped him with a light touch and made the medic turn toward her.

"Virgil, can you do me a favor and come check on my daughter?" Onaha asked worriedly, making Virgil freeze. "She's running a high fever and is as weak as a kitten, can you come check on her?"

"Sure thing Onaha. But first, I need to go check on Alan." Virgil said as he gestured to Alan's bedroom down the hall. "He's got a fever and can't keep his eyes open…"

Virgil trailed off before he went to Alan's bedroom with Onaha on his heels. Quickly knocking, Virgil was granted entrance and he walked in to see Gordon sitting on Alan's bed with a dripping wet washcloth and a water bottle. The washcloth was promptly placed on Alan's forehead and Virgil strode forward to check on Alan. He was quick to slip the thermometer under Alan's tongue and he counted the seconds on his watch. For a few seconds, Virgil waited before looking at the thermometer and whistling.

"Looks like Alan's in for a trip to the infirmary. He's too hot." Virgil said as he disinfected the thermometer with an alcohol wipe. "Kid has got a fever of 103.3, I don't feel comfortable allowing him to stay in his room."

"I've got you covered." Scott said before putting one knee on Alan's bed and slipping his arms beneath Alan. Securing his grip on Alan, Scott supported Alan's head and knees before lifting Alan and his blankets from the bed. John and Gordon steadied Scott before going to follow their oldest brother.

"John, can you come with me?" Virgil stopped John and beckoned him to follow. "I need to go check Tin-Tin, her mother says she's sick too."

"Her too?" John asked in shock. It was quite uncommon for Tin-Tin to get sick and that worried John that both Alan and Tin-Tin were sick at the same time.

"Yeah, Onaha says she's got a fever and can't lift her head. I'm wondering if she and Alan have the same thing."

… … … … … …

Virgil exited the infirmary a short while later and looked at the gathered people. He heaved a long suffering sigh.

"How are they Virgil?" Jeff asked as he looked through the glass at the dark enshrouded beds that both Alan and Tin-Tin were occupying.

"Well, judging on the high fever they are both running, the swollen lymph nodes in their necks and severely sore throat and fatigue, I'm placing a good bet on mono." Virgil said before opening the door to his office which was joined to the infirmary. "Judging on how tired they've been and honestly since the school sent Alan home from school I'm not surprised that they'd both have it."

"Are you sure they've got the kissing disease?" Gordon asked, worried because he was the one that got Virgil when he went to wake Alan for breakfast and not only was his little brother soaking wet from head to toe but he could barely open his eyes.

"Yes Gordo, I'm afraid they do have mono. Both of them are displaying some pretty convincing symptoms and I'm not prepared to ignore the Epstein-Barr virus. It's not known for being fatal but it can be a long recovery. I'm going to issue a sick note to Alan's school letting them know that Alan is too sick to return and that we're keeping him under doctor's care. " Virgil said as he began writing out a doctor's note to scan and send to Wharton's. As he placed his own signature verifying that he was Alan's medical practitioner he couldn't help but wonder if there was more that could be done to help his brother and his brother's girlfriend. "There's no known cure for mono, but dad do you think we should load the kiddos up and take them to the mainland for a second opinion?"

Jeff looked in from the hall at the darkness enshrouded room before shaking his head in the negative.

"No Virgil, I think they're getting the best treatment they can here. If there's no known cure and antibiotics won't work I think it'd be safe to just keep them under a watchful eye and make sure they don't get worse. Until we're sure they aren't getting worse though, Virgil I am placing you on standby. No International Rescue missions for you for a few days at least until we are sure that Alan and Tin-Tin won't require being moved to a hospital."

"Alright, well then in the meantime I think I'll just hang out down here so I can keep an eye on Alan and Tin-Tin." Virgil said as he grabbed an electronic thermometer. "I'm going to go take their temps again, both of them had a pretty alarming fever earlier."

… … … … … …

"I'm not really hungry." Alan whispered, unable to speak any louder than he was at present.

"I know you aren't but you need to eat and its Onaha's chicken soup. You love her soup." John coaxed as he held a spoon up to Alan's mouth filled with the warm broth.

"I may love it, but I'm not hungry. I'm tired." Alan argued back, wishing he didn't have to talk any more. "I'll eat it later."

John heaved a sigh before looking over to where Kyrano was sitting on Tin-Tin's infirmary bed and giving her a spoonful of soup. The girl was still as weak as Alan but she was making an effort to eat while Alan just slept. He couldn't stay awake for more than a half hour between naps and when he did wake up he was grouchy and refusing to eat or drink anything.

"Tin-Tin can you tell your boyfriend he needs to eat to get better?" John turned to the Malaysian island girl and begged her to talk to her boyfriend.

"Alan. Eat." Tin-Tin said before her father offered her a spoonful of soup.

Alan pouted at the order before he heaved a sigh and gestured to John to feed him. John smiled before pouring a spoonful of warm broth into his brother's open mouth. Alan swallowed what John had given him before being a baby bird and opening his mouth in expectation of more broth. Before long both Alan and Tin-Tin had finished their soup and were both tucked in and sound asleep.


End file.
